ASA: Chell's Story
by E1craZ4life
Summary: Chell is the only living person on Earth who has never witnessed any part of the Combine's ruling over Earth. And it's her own beginnings that could've led to her self-destruction, but ultimately ended up saving herself in an ironic manner. WALKTHROUGH ALERT!
1. Chapter A1

**Chell's Story: Part A**  
Chapter One

* * *

I was born on January 17, 1989 to a life of intense bullying. My female classmates thought I was abandoned at birth by my parents and continuously taunted my refusal to believe the bizarre stories they told me. Nobody would turn their comments away from me, and I felt like the victim of a conspiracy.

At first, I tried to ignore them. It was fairly easy to not say anything to them when they started making fun of me. I was successful at keeping my peace of mind, even when the teacher sent me to the principal's office because of something one of the girls did. (The principal was actually the only faculty member in the school that didn't believe what the girls were saying, so I was actually happy about being in the principal's office.)

Things came to a head, however, when I made friends with a student named Pedro, a foster child from Venezuela. Dad had kept a number of unused Spanish books at home, and through them, I was able to teach myself to speak Spanish. (Enseñando mí mismo hablar Español era algo que yo hacía después de completar mi trabajo para escuela para distraer mí mismo de las cosas que las chicas estaban deciendo sobre mí.) Pedro's English was poor, and it was me being bilingual in Spanish and English that helped us form a friendship. But the girls booby-trapped a gift I made him, and that was the last straw.

From that day forward, I swore I would have revenge on the girls. And it came on May 16, 1998 at Aperture Laboratories.

* * *

Aperture was hosting its first Bring Your Daughter to Work Day event. My dad worked there as a computer programmer, and I had gone there for a weekend in February. I had hoped to take part in the event, which featured a science fair as the grand finale. My hope was that if I got first place in the science fair, the girls would stop mocking me with their stories. Of course, it could make the situation worse, but at least I'd have something to flaunt in their faces.

I expected that all of the girls would do baking soda volcanoes for their projects, so I decided to do a potato battery for my project. But as it turned out, Heather was the only girl that did a baking soda volcano; everyone else did potato batteries. This prompted me to look for some way to jazz up my own project to boost my chances.

I had scouted the offices during my weekend visit in February (including the chamber where Dad's big project was), so I knew where Dad's office was. I snuck out of the cafeteria during lunch and scampered through the halls until I came across the door labeled "D. Rattmann", then slipped through the not completely latched door inside the office unseen.

There was a file cabinet behind the desk stocked with various chemicals, and I quietly searched through it until I found a vial labeled "Growth Accelerator"; this gave me the idea of testing a hypothesis about whether a germinated potato would generate more or less power than a normal potato.

I slipped the vial in my pocket and made my way back to the cafeteria. Nobody seemed to notice that I had gone missing for a longer time than could be accounted for by a restroom break. I saw Dad talking to another scientist and decided to listen in on what they were saying.

Dad was the first to speak when I was within earshot. "I'm telling you, there's nothing that'll get this project to work."

"We've already told you there's nothing to worry about, Doug."

"What's not to worry about when the building starts to flood with neurotoxin every time it gets turned on? And that there's a planned start-up after the science fair while the girls are still here?"

"We have it under control; we've added new hardware to make sure it operates the way it should."

"You've said that the last 27 times, and every time, it doesn't work."

"Not this time; this time, we know it's going to work."

"Again, that's what you said the last 27 times."

"And that's why we have the Red Phone, so we can call the start-up station to shut it down if things do go wrong."

"You can't rely on the Red Phone forever. And now that I think about it, why isn't the start-up station located in the chamber itself?"

"Why are you asking me? I didn't write up the blueprints or design the facility layout."

The PA system came online to address the people in the cafeteria. "Attention: this is a reminder that the Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day Science Fair will start in 30 minutes. All personnel and visitors partaking in the event are advised to start heading down so as to prepare for the science fair. Thank you."

All the girls finished their meals and headed to the lobby where the science fair stations were waiting.


	2. Chapter A2

**Chell's Story: Part A  
**Chapter Two

* * *

The science fair was unremarkable, as the girls showed very little enthusiasm for their projects except Heather, who was the first to present her project. I was the last in line, which I had requested in the hopes that my project could serve as a grand finale. But given the lack of excitement, it was difficult not to fall asleep; the only thing that kept anyone awake was the requirement to take notes on the others' projects. But even that did little to stimulate them away from boredom, as I was the only one paying attention enough to take notes voluntarily. I had toyed with the thought that all the girls except Heather had chosen potato batteries so they wouldn't need to take notes.

It was finally my turn, and I could tell that the audience would probably have to take a bus home. (Of course, they did take a bus here, so they'd be taking one home anyway. Their parents were probably in no condition to drive themselves home given their level of fatigue.) As I took my place, Heather leaned toward my ear.

"Good luck getting first place with a project like this."

"Go take your seat, Heather."

"Sure. It won't matter, since I'll be the one to walk away with first place."

I started my presentation as soon as Heather sat down with her father. "Is everyone listening?"

Everyone responded with a drowsy "Yeah."

"Okay. You've seen how potato batteries work and how well they power various gadgets. As you can see, I've set up a potato battery to a clock, which is drawing power from said potato battery. What I will pursue now is what will happen if a potato battery starts to sprout; will the power output be changed by a potato battery growing into a potato plant?"

A few intrigued eyebrows rose in the audience.

"Presently, the potato is outputting 1.1 volts of energy, which is enough to power the clock. Now, with a dab of this,..." I uncapped the vial and poured a drop of the muddy green liquid onto the potato, "...and we shall see how this potato fares in its power output as it sprouts."

Tiny sprouts began to emerge from the eyes of the potato. Monitoring the multimeter as the potato plant grew, I was about to provide a status update when I suddenly heard screaming from some of the girls.

When I looked back at the potato, I saw the plant was growing larger by the second up to the ceiling. Within ten seconds, it had reached the ceiling and pushed its way through the fiberglass tile ceiling with a stomach-shaking crunch.

All the scientists watched in shock at what had happened. Their gaze return to me, eyebrows tense in anger.

"Oh... spud." I edged toward the closest door, breaking into a run down the hall as the scientists pursued me on the cue from Dad. "Get back here!"


	3. Chapter A3

**Chell's Story: Part A  
**Chapter Three

* * *

I managed to find a closet and lock myself inside to escape my pursuers. They found my hiding spot and, upon finding that the door was locked, sent a few people to find a janitor to unlock the door. Meanwhile, I grabbed a small crowbar and an oxygen canister, and climbed up the shelves to an air vent. After prying the cover off, I crawled in with the mask over my face and made my way through the ducting.

As I crawled through the winding tunnel, thoughts started passing through my mind. I didn't want to go back home; the girls were constantly pushing stories down my throat, and I was always getting in trouble at home and at school for trying to figure out why or for standing up to them. I finally decided that the girls needed to pay for what they had done to me for all these years.

I soon found my way to the place where Dad's big project was. Nobody was in that room except me. I had gone vent crawling during my weekend visit in February, and I had come across the big project that way. I had heard Dad talking about the risk posed to the facility by the project, as it would try to kill everyone whenever it was turned on. That's when my plan developed.

I snuck out of the duct close to the floor of the chamber. Remembering what he and the other scientist had said about a Red Phone, I went up to the Red Phone on the desk next to the entrance, cut the receiver cord with my teeth, then unplugged the base end and took it with me as I crawled through the ducts looking for the project's control room.

I had ended up in the project control room during my vent crawling, and I was able to find my way there easily with no one to find and stop me. Even though the computers were too complex to be operated by a nine-year-old such as myself, there was one switch clearly marked "Central Core power-up", which I assumed was the button I wanted.

When I pressed the button, the PA system chimed up. "Central Core power-up initiated."

I went out the door, locking it as I did so, and started making my way through the hall back to the lobby.

"Central Core power-up complete."

The soothing masculine voice was replaced by a mechanical feminine one.

"Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. The Enrichment Center would like to announce a new employee initiative of forced voluntary participation. If any Aperture Science employee would like to opt out of this new voluntary test program, please remember: science rhymes with compliance. Do you know what doesn't rhyme with compliance? **Neurotoxin**."

Clocks appeared on the walls and started counting down from sixty minutes. A select number of vents started belching out thick green gas, leaving one clear path for me. I deduced that whoever it was that was speaking was forcing everyone to partake in testing.

Twenty minutes passed with me walking down the halls, guided by the presence or absence of neurotoxin. I came across the girls who were also being herded. They looked surprised to see me coming from a different direction than they did.

"What's going on here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where did you run off to?"

I didn't answer her. My only answer was to smile with bliss.

One of the other girls seemed to catch on. "Was that you who turned on the big project?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Why? We're all being hounded into these projects that Aperture is doing!"

"You really should know better than to force stories onto other people."

"But everything we've been telling you is true!"

"Wow. You still won't apologize, even in a situation like this?"

"We were never telling you tall tales; everything we've been telling you is true. Even if we were telling tall tales, that doesn't mean you should do something like this!"

"You already passed the point of no return long before you got to Aperture."

That's when we reached a large door. It opened as we approached it, revealing a vast array of sealed beds.

"I think this is where we're supposed to go."

We all went in, and empty pods opened up as we passed them. We climbed into different pods, and they sealed on top of us before we drifted off into long slumbers.


	4. Chapter B1

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter One

* * *

Darkness filled the void around me. I could not perceive the time that elapsed as I remained suspended in the black abyss; my only awareness was of the sound of demonic laughter echoing softly in the background, and voices making constructive or degrading remarks about my decision to release Aperture to the grasp of the rule of an artificially intelligent supercomputer.

The already garbled noises grew even less understandable as light filled the darkness.

When I grasped what was happening, I found myself looking at a white tiled ceiling with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling encased in a cage. Sensations returned to my extremities, and a glass dome retracted from above me. I sat up and instantly became aware of hot, humid, clean air flowing through my air passages. I swung my legs out over the side of the pod and pushed myself to the floor.

I next found myself lying face down on the floor. My forehead stung like crazy from the abrupt fall. I pushed myself up and tried to stand up, but found it difficult to balance myself. I tumbled against a lavatory bowl (which seemed out of place in a glass room), flushing it and coaxing from it the sound of a little girl's voice: "Your business is appreciated."

Next to the lavatory bowl was a small table sporting a radio playing an upbeat song, a ceramic coffee mug, and a clipboard displaying what appeared to be a physical exam pamphlet.

I had no time to examine it before the PA system buzzed to life.

"Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center." The feminine voice sounded mechanical and spoke in a syncopated monotone. "We hope your brief detention in the Relaxation Vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed, and we are now ready to begin the test proper."

I was still trying to figure out my difficulties with standing, and was moving myself along the glass wall.

"Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all Enrichment Center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from -"

The room suddenly shook, throwing me back to the floor (hitting my head on the sealed pod) and breaking the lamp above me. The next words were garbled and registered as Spanish in my mind. "Por favor bordón de fallar. Muchos gracias de fallar. Gracias."

The incoherent dialect appeared to intend a translation along the lines of "Please refrain from failing. Thank you very much for failing. Thank you."

The lamp wasn't broken, as it came back on immediately after, coinciding with the last sentence of the PA announcement. "Stand back; the portal will open in 3... 2... 1..."

I got back to my feet in time to see an orange ring appear on the only solid wall in the room. Through it, I could see another glass room. Inside of that room was a girl who appeared to be around 15 years old and appeared either Hispanic or Japanese. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and her hair was tied back in a ponytail.

I turned to my right and saw a blue ring on the wall outside. It showed the same girl as before, except she was looking in the other direction. What's more, I could see that she was barefoot, and her legs had a pair of crowbar-shaped pieces of metal attached to the backs of her legs.

Finding the same devices bound to my legs (which were also without footwear) confirmed that I was seeing myself through those portals, as well as explained why I was having difficulty standing.

Once I figured out how to stand up with the leg braces on me (it only took a minute or two to figure out that I had to stand on my toes rather than on my whole foot), I reached toward the portal with one hand, watching as the girl on the other side did the same. When my fingers touched where the wall should've been, there was a sudden whoosh, like the sound of someone blowing out a candle. My hand retracted at the noise, as did that of my other self.

I jumped forward, the portal making a strange splash sound as I went through, and I found myself outside the Relaxation Vault. I was able to maintain balance with the braces when I landed on the floor, so that was a relief. A large light on my right displayed the number 00 prominently against a white background. Below was a set of bars, the number 00/19, and ten square pictures, two of which were bolded; one had a box falling from a pipe, the other had a stick figure being hit in the head with a box.

I walked around the outside, two cameras focusing their gaze upon me as I did so, until I reached an open door.

* * *

In the next room, there was a large red button on the floor, with a line of lights leading to a sealed door, and a large pipe protruding from the ceiling in the corner. The pipe opened up, and a large crate fell out and landed on the floor.

I stood on top of the button, and the door opened up, revealing a hall leading to an elevator. As soon as I stepped off the button, the door closed back up. It quickly became clear that I had to put the box on the button to get through the door.

I walked over to the box in the corner. It was a gray metal cube, 30 to 36 inches high, with circular covers on each face displaying the Aperture logo. There were covers on the edges and vertices of the cube, the edges connected to the faces by glowing blue lights.

Testing its weight, it appeared to weigh about 30 pounds, a fourth of my own body weight of 120. Gripping the box by opposite faces, I hoisted it up and heaved it onto the button.

"Excellent." I listened as I went into the open door. "Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test."

As I approached the elevator, I saw a stream of particles crossing my path.

"First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it; for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube."

I turned around to look at the cube on the button before passing through the grill with bated breath.

Nothing happened. I entered the elevator, and the doors closed behind me.


	5. Chapter B2

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Two

* * *

The doors opened to reveal a small hallway. As I walked through, a sign lit up just like the one outside the Relaxation Vault. It was there that I realized that the signs were counting the test chambers as I went through them, and that there were 19 chambers in total.

The hall took a turn and exited about 10 feet from the chamber floor. I would have to jump down to get there, but I decided to lower myself down since I was unsure if I would be able to survive a fall like that, especially with these weird ankle braces.

As soon as my bare feet came in contact with the waxed cement floor, the wall I had slid down vanished as an orange portal opened on it. Through it, I could see another Storage Cube.

The voice came back up over the intercom. "Please place the Weighted Storage Cube..." the background suddenly switched over to view another big red button on the floor, "...on the 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy-Duty Super Colliding Super Button."

As soon as the intercom clicked off, the background changed again to reveal a closed exit door. The background rotated between the three areas in sequence at regular intervals.

First, I ran into the room which contained the Cube. It was a pain to carry, but under the adrenaline of getting out before the portal closed, I managed to get through it.

The Cube's inertia threw me to the ground once I cleared the portal, so I only got through the portal just before it switched away from the Button. I dropped the Cube on the floor and pushed it the rest of the way onto the Button.

The voice chimed when the Button had been pressed. "Perfect." The portal opened again. "Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test."

The portal let me to the exit, and I marched down the corridor.

I boarded the elevator, curious about what kind of effects there could be to prolonged exposure to the Button.

* * *

The elevator opened upon a large window overlooking the next test. As I went up for a closer look, the voice came on the intercom.

"You're doing very well. Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, which may in semi-rare cases emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."

In the middle of a pit, I could see a weird machine mounted on a pedestal. A bright flash of blue light flew away from one end, struck one of the walls, and a blue portal opened on that part of the wall. The pedestal rotated 90 degrees to the left, and the process started again.

As I walked through the hallway running around the chamber, I licked my teeth and gums to make sure I still had all of my teeth. I confirmed that I did just as a shot flew past my nose and hit the wall to my right.

A blue portal was open, and I walked through, finding myself on a ledge overlooking the pit from the opposite side of the pit from where I started. The machine shot another portal on the wall I was standing on top of. I turned around and went through the orange portal to get a closer look at the machine.

I could see that the device resembled some sort of gun. On the front end, there was a glass tube which I took to be the barrel. Three prongs protruded past the opening, resembling some kind of claw. The device turned around, and I looked at the back end.

Under the hood, I could see what looked like two double fishhooks stacked on top of each other and lined up behind a small metal bar. The lower fishhook had a robotic finger which stuck out from the pedestal. The finger pulled back on the trigger, and a blue shot ejected out the other side, hitting the wall.

I reached a finger from my right hand under the hood for a closer look at the rest of the machinery inside, and the device freed itself from the pedestal and latched onto my wrist.

Almost immediately, the pedestal lowered itself into the floor, and the window above me projected a holographic image of the machine that was stuck on my wrist. At the same time, the voice started speaking.

"Very good." The video demonstrated how to fire a portal; by pulling on the lower fishhook with my ring and pinky fingers. "You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device." The diagram zoomed out and faded to a shot of a man holding the device. "With it, you can create your own portals." The man fired a portal at the wall in front of him, and the gun's recoil threw him into an orange portal behind him.

As he recovered, the voice continued. "These intra-dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe; the Device, however, has not." The man flinched as though he heard what the voice was saying, and his hand slipped over the opening in the barrel. "Do not touch the operational end of the Device." He threw it up in the air in a panic, and when he caught it, it was facing in the opposite direction, looking him in the eye. "Do not look directly at the operational end of the Device." He dropped it on the floor, and it teetered over the edge above a pool of liquid. "Do not submerge the Device in liquid..." he grabbed it just as it fell off, with only the prongs in the liquid, "...even partially."

His anger rose with his physical body and he stomped toward the camera. "Most importantly, under no circumstances should you...-" The message was cut short as he grabbed the camera, and the holographic image quaked and faded from the window.

I held the gun as demonstrated in the video, with my free hand holding up the barrel. Firmly grasping the Device, I aimed at a nearby wall and pulled the lower trigger. The recoil was strong, but I was able to hold my balance. The shot hit the wall, and the portal opened.

I walked through the portal, then portaled past the grate in the middle of the ledge, and finally walked into the elevator standing beyond it.


	6. Chapter B3

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Three

* * *

The elevator reached the third chamber, which was basically just a simple hallway.

"Please proceed to the chamberlock. Mind the gap."

There was a shallow gap which stood between me and a platform with an orange portal on the wall. I aimed the Device at the wall next to me, fired a portal, and went through. When I emerged, I could see the elevator. There was another gap in my way, so I shot a portal on the wall closest to it.

When I reached the exit, the voice came back. "Well done. Remember: the Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested."

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day... why does that sound familiar?

I thought about this as I stepped into the elevator.

* * *

The next test looked eerily similar to chamber 00. As I went in for a closer look, the voice came back.

"Welcome to Test Chamber 04. You're doing quite well."

An overhead pipe dropped a Storage Cube into a nearby pit. I realized I was going to have a hard carrying it and the portal gun at the same time. I fired a portal on the floor under it and walked to where it landed next to the orange portal.

I wrapped my arms around the Cube and tried to grab it. I wasn't able to get a grip on the right side because of the portal gun. As I tried to improve my grip, the Cube suddenly flew off back into the pit.

I portaled myself into the pit and tried to figure out what I did. I pushed the Cube into the portal with my foot and followed it out.

I traced my actions in slow motion to see what could've happened. Leaning forward, reaching around the Cube, clenching my fingers to get a grip - the Cube shifted when my fingers were clenched.

The Device had two fishhook triggers; the bottom one shot a blue portal, the top one did nothing. But I hadn't seen if _both_ triggers pulled _simultaneously_ did anything. When I did that, the Cube levitated in front of the portal gun and dropped back down when I released.

That's convenient. I brought the Cube to the button on the floor near the entrance and dropped it onto the Button.

As I turned to the exit, the voice came up. "Once again, excellent work. As part of a required test protocol, we will not monitor the next test chamber; you will be entirely on your own. Good luck."

As if I'd let that be a problem.

* * *

The next chamber was different than the others. This time, I needed to press _two_ buttons to open the door. Naturally, there were two cubes I needed to get; one was in a pit, the other was on a high platform. The orange portal was situated on another raised platform.

My first priority was the Cube in the pit. I put a portal under it to bring it to the orange portal. A portal on the wall next to me brought me to the Cube. I picked it up and brought it to the Button below. Returning to the platform via the portal, I fired a shot to the platform on the other side of the room, grabbed that Cube, and brought it to the other Button the same way as the first Cube.

I went through the door, where I found myself in a sealed room with a glass ceiling.

As I fired a shot at the wall in front of me, the voice returned. "As part of a required test protocol, our previous statement suggesting that we would not monitor this chamber was an outright fabrication."

I was as stunned by this announcement as I was about the fall I would take; the orange portal was on a ceiling 30 feet above the window above me.

I re-placed the portal onto the floor, and slowly crept through until I was dangling from my hand on the ceiling portal. The portals were almost directly on top of each other, with only a pane of glass between them.

I closed my eyes and released my grip, hoping I would still be alive when I hit the window.

To my surprise, I took no damage at all, and the glass was completely intact. It was then that I realized the braces on my ankles were supposed to help me survive long falls. A wave of relief passed through me as I realized I had less of a reason to tense about jumping from high places.

The relief was superseded by the next announcement that played during my walk to the elevator. "Good job. As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in 3... 2... - "

The message was cut off by a burst of static at almost the same instant I passed through the Emancipation Grill. The elevator ride had me very anxious about the tests. Even though I completed five already, I had a feeling they would just get harder and harder.


	7. Chapter B4

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Four

* * *

The elevator opened up in the next chamber, and I quickly became aware of a glowing yellow ball bouncing back and forth between an orange portal and a strange machine on the ceiling, which I assumed was what made the object.

"While safety is one of many Enrichment Center goals, the Aperture Science High Energy Pellet, seen to the left of the chamber, can and has caused permanent disabilities, such as vaporization. Please be careful."

Careful is my middle name. ... Okay, I don't know what it is.

The walls and back half of the ceiling were plated with metal, and when I tried to fire a portal on the metal ceiling, the shot bounced off and disintegrated in a shower of particles.

The pellet exploded, scattering metallic embers upon the floor which instantly dried out and vanished in the floor cracks. The machine on the ceiling opened up, releasing another pellet.

Looking to the right of the chamber, I saw another machine on the floor casting a red light on the ceiling. Its similar appearance to the machine on the ceiling led me to believe that the machine on the floor was supposed to catch the pellet.

I fired a portal where the red light was cast, and the pellet passed through the portal and into the machine on the floor.

The machine flattened out on the floor, and a platform at the back of the chamber lowered itself to the floor as the voice came back online.

"Unbelievable! You, [Subject Name Here], must be the pride of [Subject Hometown Here]."

I wish. I walked onto the platform, and it raised back up, bringing me to the exit. I made my way into the elevator without incident.

* * *

When the elevator opened, I was at the top of a staircase. I walked down, and a pellet whizzed right over my head barely missing me. Sheesh, is it too much trouble to post some sort of warning or something?

The voice seemed to have read my mind. "Warning devices are required on all mobile equipment; however, alarms and flashing hazard lights have been found to agitate a High Energy Pellet, and have therefore been disabled for your safety."

Yeah, right. I immediately became aware of an orange portal on the floor, and looking back at the pellet, I could see the launcher on one wall, and a large burn mark on the other wall. I fired a portal at the burn mark, and the pellet flew up and into a catcher on the ceiling.

"Good. Now use the Aperture Science Unstationary Scaffold to reach the chamberlock."

At the back of the chamber, surrounded by metal walls, ceilings, and floors, a large glass platform was hovering back and forth along a light beam between two posts. A white ceiling panel was above one end, and the exit was at the other end.

I placed a portal at the necessary location and stood at the orange portal, waiting for the scaffold to appear underneath. When it did, I swooped down, landing with a thud, and rode over to the exit.

The elevator ride progressed normally.

* * *

The doors opened and I was greeted by the intense smell of algae and vinegar, with tones of burnt plastic and sour milk. The voice was quick to hint at the source of the odor.

"Please note that we have added a consequence for failure: any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record followed by death. Good luck."

I emerged on a steel grate platform above a pit of slimy greenish-brown liquid. Thick green gas emanated from the liquid, which smelled strangely familiar. I decided not to dwell on it, instead focusing on solving the test.

The orange portal was above a lone platform above the pit of slime. A pellet crossed past it, and a red light further down the wall showed that the orange portal wasn't lined up with either the launcher or the catcher. The fact was confirmed when I fired a portal at where the pellet had left a mark on the wall; the pellet entered the portal, bounced off another wall, and re-entered the portal.

After the pellet exploded and a fresh one was created, I decided to try something. When the pellet entered the portal, I repositioned the blue portal to line up with the catcher. When the pellet came back, it flew straight for the catcher and activated a scaffold near the exit.

I put a portal on the wall next to me and emerged on the platform with the orange portal. I repositioned the blue portal to where the scaffold had started, and I waited for the scaffold to return.

As I rode the scaffold to the exit, the voice spoke up. "Very impressive. Please note that any appearance of danger is merely a device to enhance your testing experience."

I paid the words no mind as I crossed another grate bridge and entered the elevator.


	8. Chapter B5

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Five

* * *

It was a sobering moment, stepping out of the elevator and being re-introduced to the super clean air that filled the test chambers. There was no dust, no pollen, and no fine debris in the air; it was a little unsettling to breathe air this clean.

My train of thought was derailed by the voice addressing my entrance into the next test chamber. "The Enrichment Center regrets to inform you that this next test is impossible; make no attempt to solve it."

A Cube dropped out of a Pipe in the ceiling and landed on the floor. The Button that opened the exit door was easily accessible; what was stopping me? The answer presented itself in the form of the Cube disintegrating as I passed through the gap in the wall.

"The Enrichment Center apologizes for this clearly broken test chamber."

A new Cube dropped in through the pipe in the ceiling. As I picked it up, I could see an Emancipation Grill across the space I'd have to go through to reach the Button. There was a hole in the wall above the archway, but I failed to get the Cube through it.

"Once again, the Enrichment Center offers its most sincere apologies on the occasion of this unsolvable test environment."

Only when the next Cube dropped in did I realize that there was an orange portal on a platform above me. I fired a portal on the wall and brought the Cube onto the platform.

"Frankly, this chamber was a mistake; if we were you, we would quit now."

I fired a portal through the hole in the wall where the Button. I jumped down and walked into the room... only for the portal to close as I walked through the Emancipation Grill.

"No one will blame you for giving up; in fact, quitting at this point is a perfectly reasonable response."

I portaled back up to the platform, fired a portal through the hole again, and brought the Cube into the portal with me.

"Quit now, and - " The message was interrupted by me placing the Cube on the Button. "Fantastic. You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism."

The only thing unusual about the elevator was that it arrived at the same time I did.

* * *

This was the point where I started getting annoyed about having only one free hand. I couldn't climb up any ledges with three appendages, and the next test started with a ledge that I had to get over.

And I was greeted by the voice again. "Hello again. To reiterate - ouurrr previswrn - thisss... tesisdnjrs - momentum."

I just stood there for a moment, trying to take in the abrupt slowdowns and speedups in the message I just heard. My first reaction was to put a blue portal on the wall and see where it'd take me. I was able to discern that the orange portal was near the ceiling, allowing me to jump out and reach the ledge. Once I was there and up the stairs, I was through the door.

Everything around me was metal, and a large pit separated me from the door. At the base of the pit was a white panel, which I naturally put a portal on. I jumped down, and I suddenly found myself flying across the pit toward the exit. I made a hard landing followed by a number of somersaults before coming to a stop in the next room.

"Spectacular. You appear to understand how a portal affects forward momentum; or to be more precise, how it does not."

Panels started shifting above me. When they stopped, I laid down a portal on one of them. There was another pit in the room, this time with an orange portal at the base, as well as a staircase leading to the entrance to the room.

I jumped into the portal, flew over the pit, and landed on my back on a lower ledge, slamming feet first into the final wall I had to surmount to reach the exit.

"Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals; in layman's terms, speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."

The panels protruded further, which I took to mean that a new portal placement was in order. Once that was completed, I backflipped into the pit, went through the portal, landed on the top ledge with a somersault, and slid on my back into the elevator.

I stood up and cracked my back, wondering how much of this I'd have to endure.


	9. Chapter B6

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Six

* * *

My feet were still throbbing when the elevator stopped. I wanted to lay down and take a break, but I wasn't going to get anywhere doing that. I climbed the stairs and found myself in a sealed room overlooking the next chamber.

"The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment. In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you; try to avoid it."

Yeah, that helps. The chamber was flooded with slime, and there was another room visible in the back, sealed off by a large door. In the middle of the chamber was a lone metal platform with a scaffold on one side; mounted on top of the platform was a pedestal carrying another Portal Device, operating exactly like the one in Test Chamber 02, but this time firing orange portals.

Opening a blue portal on the wall next to me showed me where the orange portals landed. One shot hit the wall at the other end of the scaffold beam; another hit the wall right under the door to the room across the pit from me; another would've hit a pellet catcher opposite the scaffold beam; the last direction hit the area right under me.

I stepped through the portal when it led me to an alcove under the entrance room. There, I found a button on a pedestal, which I pushed with my free hand. The door to the other room opened up, and a clock ticked loudly as it stood open, stopping about four seconds later when the door closed again. I pushed the button again and fired a portal shot through the open door.

I barely dodged a portal shot headed my way. I stepped through the fresh portal into the room across the pit.

When I got there, I could see a pellet bouncing back and forth along the length of the room between a launcher and a wall above a raised path accessible with stairs. I shot the burn mark on the wall, and waited for the pellet to reach the catcher.

Once that happened, the scaffold started its run along the energy beam toward the wall. I walked up to the portal I made, unsure if the orange portals and scaffold would time out together. They did, and I made it safely onto the scaffold.

As I rode toward the second portal gun, I started wondering how I would be able to use two guns at the same time. A close look at the pedestal on the island revealed a setup identical to the one in Test Chamber 02, the only difference being that the robot fingers were working the top fishhook trigger rather than the bottom one.

I stepped off the scaffold onto the island, and the operational end of my Device started moving toward the controlled end of the Device on the pedestal almost like a magnet. They clicked together, and there was a bright flash that nearly threw me off balance. When the flash subsided, the other portal gun was gone, while another pedestal button had appeared.

I looked around and caught a hologram video in the window of the room I had left less than a minute ago, in time to hear the voice explain what happened. "The Device has been modified so that it can now manufacture two linked portals at once." The video showed how to fire orange portals; by pulling the top trigger with the upper and middle fingers. "As part of an optional test protocol, we are pleased to present an amusing fact: the Device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in [Subject Hometown Here]."

So, I can control both portals now, huh? I pushed the button next to me, and a door opened above the pellet catcher. The ticking sound from before echoed through the chamber again, prompting me to fire a blue portal through it. The door closed again before I turned around and shot an orange portal at the other end of the scaffold beam.

The scaffold returned to the island and I rode it down to the portal, jumping through and heading into the elevator within.

* * *

I had been cradling my new portal gun for the entire elevator ride, sitting on the floor and leaning on the doors. So one could easily guess what happened when the doors opened.

I got to my feet and entered the test chamber as the voice started talking.

"Leb-dub-lib-lub... fling yourself... fl-fl-fling into spa - KZZT!"

Looking around, I could see that this was a re-exploration of sorts, just modified for a dual-portal gun.

Using the orange trigger put some awkward strain on my hand and wrist, so I elected to seek out a way to fire as few orange portals as I could. As such, I started by putting an orange portal on the floor of a pit near the entrance. From there, I found a spot to lay down a blue portal above me.

Jumping down led me to land on a ledge above the entrance, where I found another row of protruding panels. I put a blue portal up there and prepared to jump. From the shape of the chamber, it did cross my mind to jump from the original ledge. But jumping from where I was now would give me more speed with which to reach the next level.

Ultimately, I chose to jump straight for the portal. When I landed, I ended up sliding into a Button on the floor, which threw me up into the wall. As I fell back to the floor, a panel pushed itself out and angled itself upward. I was in horrific pain and didn't know if I broke or lost anything. I got a blue portal on the angled panel and limped down to the ledge I had just come from.

Another jump later, I almost hit the ceiling. I slammed into the wall feet first, back-flipped, and fell to the floor feet first, catching in my sight a Cube falling out of a pipe to my left and the sealed exit door to my right.

Picking myself up, I took hold of the Cube and, after a short prayer, jumped across the pit to where the Button was. I made it there and dropped the Cube on the Button. Then I flung myself back up to the top ledge where the open door was.

I headed into the door with the voice leading me out. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - KRZZKRZZ!"

I would've been screaming that at the top of my lungs if I wasn't so scared. But at least I've completed 12 test chambers; only 7 tests left now.


	10. Chapter B7

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Seven

* * *

When I stepped out of the elevator, I could see the next chamber through a window in front of me. From the view, it was obvious that I was in for a challenge; a fact that was reinforced by the announcement that came up.

"Now that you are in control of both portals, this next test could take a very, very long time. If you become light-headed from thirst, feel free to pass out; an incubation associate will be dispatched to revive you with peptic salve and adrenaline."

The announcement ended as soon as I realized that I needed to get through a presently closed door. There was a Button on the floor, and a Cube on the grate walkway above me where the door was. I portaled myself up there and brought the Cube down to the Button, then headed up to the door. There was a long drop from the door to the chamber floor, but a survey of the chamber showed that I would have to make long drops in this chamber, so I decided to just jump down.

When I landed, an energy pellet was launched from the opposite wall. I decided to get that in the catcher as my first task to avoid crossing paths with it later on. The catcher was almost smack dab in the middle of the chamber floor, and the red glow on the ceiling showed me where to put the portal. With the portals lined up with the catcher and the launcher, the pellet was quick to activate a Scaffold running along one side of the chamber.

Resting on the Scaffold was another Cube. A cement panel above the midpoint of the energy beam was evidence that I had to drop down to recover the Cube. I put an orange portal on the wall under the exit door and a blue portal above the Scaffold beam. I was worried that I would land on the Cube and lose my footing until I saw that the Cube was teetering on the edge of the Scaffold (but not far enough to be shaken off by the Scaffold's movements).

I waited for the Cube side of the Scaffold to move forward under the portal and jumped down. I missed the Cube and landed on the Scaffold. I picked up the Cube and brought it down to the floor.

There were two Buttons mounted on two platforms raised to different heights across from the Scaffold. It was a bit difficult to find the best spot to put a portal on the ceiling above them to reach them. By standing near the base of the taller platform, I had a good idea of where to put the blue portal. Once I did that and confirmed that it dropped straight down onto the Button, I dropped the Cube onto it.

For the other Button, I did the same thing. But this time, I jumped down on the Button myself. The exit door opened, and I fired a blue portal through it.

Jumping down from the Button and walking through the portal, I was greeted with a closing announcement.

"As part of a previously mentioned required test protocol, we can no longer lie to you; when the testing is over, you will be missed."

I was too distracted by a throbbing pain in my toes to comprehend the potential equivocation of the announcement as I boarded the elevator.


	11. Chapter B8

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eight

* * *

I don't know if I had hurt myself landing on the button in the last chamber, but my feet were giving me a lot of grief when I disembarked from the elevator. The exit was right in front of me, in the middle of a hallway, with a rising platform providing the vital link.

"All subjects intending to handle high-energy gamma-leaking portal technology must be informed that they may be informed of applicable regulatory compliance issues. No further compliance information is required or will be provided, and you are an excellent test subject."

I looked over to my left, and I saw a room tucked away above a wide gap. To my right was a sealed door with a Button near it. I limped over there and stood on the Button, and the door opened to reveal nothing but metal surfaces beyond it.

I headed to the other end of the hall where the gap was, and a staircase rose up out of it as I approached. I was slightly thrown off guard, but I staggered up the stairs, which retracted back into the pit when I reached the top.

In the room, there was a Catcher on the floor right in front of me. To my left was a high ledge with a Cube on it. I put down a portal on the floor next to the ledge, and I went over to the pit, placing a portal on the floor of the pit.

As I prepared to jump, I noticed that the floor of the hall surrounding the platform leading to the exit was cement. I could put a portal there, jump through, and be done with it. But there was a problem: the drop into the pit was at least twice as long as the platform's height. And my feet were still hurting, so I didn't know if I'd be able to withstand a landing as hard as that at that time.

I jumped into the portal, flying up onto the ledge where the Cube was. I threw it down to the floor, and I jumped down after it. The landing was painful, but I didn't break any body parts. But I could no longer exploit the loophole in the chamber, as the stairs emerged from the pit and locked in place.

I walked down the stairs, Cube in tow, and dropped it on the Button. The door opened, and I went through.

At the end of the winding tunnel was a pit of slime, with three platforms protruding from it. The one in the middle was stable, but the other two were rising in and out of the slime in sequence.

All the surfaces around me were cement; I could've just portaled across the pit, but the platform jumping didn't seem too difficult, nor was I under a time constraint to complete the test.

I decided the best way to jump on the moving platforms was to go for them as they were rising from the slime. The slime drained through the holes in the grate platform, but I didn't slide on the slime that was still adhering to it. When the platform reached its peak, I jumped to the stable platform, where I left a visible toe print. The second rising platform was the same deal as the first, and when I reached the other side, I could see a secluded room.

Inside, there was a pellet launcher and a pellet bouncing back and forth between it and the wall. I laid down a portal across the slime pit and the other where the pellet was hitting the wall. When the pellet went through, I followed after it and headed down the tunnel back to the main chamber.

Remembering that I had an orange portal in front of the launcher, I put a blue portal above the catcher in the area I had started at. It was a bit of a wait, but soon enough, the pellet reached the catcher and brought the platform down to meet me.

"Very, very good. A complementary Victory Lift has been activated in the main chamber."

As I rode it up to the elevator, the throbbing sensation in my feet started to dissipate. I had a comfortable few steps into the elevator.


	12. Chapter B9

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Nine

* * *

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that my starvation of motivation to complete the tests was what goaded me out of exploiting the stupidly simple solutions in the last chamber. So I did take a little extra time leaving the elevator when I got to the next chamber.

That fact led me to believe that someone was reading my thoughts when I heard the announcement. "The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants; cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all."

My emotions were tangled between piqued interest by the mention of cake, confusion by the last sentence of the announcement, and fatigued anxiety by the test I was facing. At least I had a reason to get through the test chambers now.

There was a glass wall obstructing my path to the exit, and an Emancipation Grill was mounted right above it, preventing me from shooting any portals past it. A protruding panel above the entrance told me what to do. I put an orange portal on that panel and a blue one on the wall. Walking through, I fell back down, but I repositioned the blue portal to where I would land, and I flew through the Emancipation Grill.

The landing was hard and was followed by a somersault and then a backslide into the wall of the hallway.

As I recovered, I saw that the fling I made was just the first part of the test chamber. There was an energy pellet bouncing across the far end of the next room, with an Emancipation Grill shielding the launcher. The catcher was closer to the exit and in its own niche like the launcher, but it was also blocked by an Emancipation Grill.

I knew from chamber 09 that I wasn't going to be able to line up the portals with the launcher and catcher at the same time. But I knew from chamber 08 that I didn't have to. An initial portal placement at the pellet scorch mark and the wall above the exit path (inaccessible for the time being) confirmed that.

The second burn mark to appear and the red light on the ceiling showed me where the second placement of portals was to go. I waited for the pellet to come out of the blue portal toward the catcher's niche before passing through the Grill and laying down the new portals.

The pellet reached the catcher, and a Victory Lift lowered to the floor to lead me into the exit hall. The absence of an announcement suggested there was more to come from the chamber.

And sure enough, at the end of the hall was another glass wall, complete with an Emancipation Grill, that I had to fling myself over. This time, the front section of the floor was metal, so I couldn't drop down into a fling from the panel where the orange portal was supposed to go. After putting the orange portal there and looking around, I noticed a small room to the side. Inside, I saw a small pit with a cement floor. I put a blue portal down there and jumped through.

I flew out of the orange portal and landed on the strip of cement just behind the glass wall, which I immediately slammed into back first and upside down. I bounced off and rolled onto my front. I lay where I stopped to think over what happened and what to do, as well as recover from having the wind knocked out of me. I was actually surprised that I didn't break any bones hitting the window.

I soon figured out what to do. I needed to execute a double fling to get over the wall. I rolled over toward the glass wall (which had a sizable warp and a large spiderweb fracture where I hit it) and pushed myself up along the glass with my feet. I walked over to the room I had started the fling in, keeping a hand on the wall in case I couldn't keep my balance.

I made another pass through the portals, but this time I put the blue portal on the floor where I was going to land. I went through and sailed over the glass, bouncing off the top, landing on the floor beyond, somersaulting, and sliding on my back into the wall, just missing the opening to the next part.

As I recovered, I saw that I had yet another fling to perform in this chamber. And I knew too well that I had to do it to move forward and get that cake.

A pellet floated through the Grill above the glass wall I had to fling over and bounced off one of two angled panels before hitting a wall and backtracking on its own course. A panel protruding above the catcher directly adjacent to the launcher, and I used it to fling myself over the wall like I did at the start of the test.

Once in the offset area, I put the portals on opposite walls at the back of the room, allowing the pellet to bounce off the second angled panel toward the catcher. The fling back to the main area was a little tricky, owing to all the panels near the ceiling being flush with the wall, but I made it back.

Through the exit opening, I saw a tunnel with a river of slime at the base and a line of Scaffolds traveling along the tunnel in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. I put an orange portal next to the opening and a blue portal as far down the hall as I could from my position, which was the point where it made a right turn.

I waited for a Scaffold to appear in front of the blue portal and hopped on. I fired another blue portal further down the tunnel at the next bend. I got back to the start of the tunnel and waited at the orange portal for another Scaffold. I got on the next one and saw the next room. I fired a blue portal into there and shot an orange portal in the tunnel, which I jumped through.

I fired an orange portal on another wall to make sure I didn't fall back into the tunnel. I looked around the room and saw three Victory Lifts going to three different rooms. Two of them came down to the floor, and I saw a pellet bouncing between the middle of the floor and a launcher on the ceiling. A panel protruding above the entrance told me that I needed to get the pellet to portal out of that spot. But the catcher seemed to be guarded by a heavy door.

I walked over to the Lift on my right and rode up to the alcove up in that area. There was a pedestal button in there, and pressing it revealed that there were two heavy doors blocking the catcher. I put an orange portal next to the button and jumped down to ride the other Lift to the other alcove. Sure enough, the button in that room opened the other heavy door, and I put a blue portal next to it.

I pushed both buttons, one after the other, and then quickly put a portal on the protruding panel and on the floor where the pellet had been hitting. The pellet made it through the open doors and into the catcher.

As the third Lift descended toward the floor, the voice made an announcement. "Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science Self-Esteem Fund for Girls? It's true."

From that, I was able to deduce that the test chamber was completed. I rushed over to the Lift and rode it up to the elevator to the next test.


	13. Chapter B10

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Ten

* * *

The elevator ride seemed longer than would be expected, but I was never one to think about unusual details that seriously. Of course, what confronted me outside the elevator would warrant hefty scrutiny.

"Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable; it has been replaced with a live fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck."

The door opened to reveal a room sprinkled with little girls who looked about eight or nine years old. They were wearing what looked like white army jackets with a glowing red medallion on their chests. They were wearing what looked like white baseball helmets with red visors over their eyes and a laser pointer mounted above the bill. They had white skirts, black socks running all the way up their legs, and heavy black boots that were likely preventing them from walking.

I walked behind the girl in the room I was in to get a better look through the window. As I looked around at the identical-looking girls in that room, I heard gunfire in the distance to my left. When I looked in the direction the noise was coming from, I could see a glass room in the corner, where a patch of glass was being frosted with bullet holes. I could see flashes through an open arch in that room, and I could see that someone was firing a gun from there at the window.

I felt my toes getting warmer, and I noticed I was standing on a light in the floor. Removing my foot from the light, I could see a silhouette of a stick figure attempting to shield itself from bullets being fired from a little girl.

To confirm my suspicion that the girls were armed and dangerous, I walked over to the wall on my right, putting myself in view of one of the girls on the other side of the glass. From the gunfire in the back room, it was my assumption that the glass was bulletproof and that I would be safe for the instant being if the girl did try to shoot me.

"Who's there?" The girl pulled two guns from her pockets, pointed them at me through the glass, and pulled the triggers on both guns, sending a barrage of bullets into the window, which stopped the bullets coming through to me.

Over the sound of the gunfire, I could hear remarks from the girl. "Target acquired! ... I see you! ... Hello friend!"

I stepped out of her line of sight behind the girl in the room with me.

"Are you still there?" The girl looked around, aiming her guns where she was looking.

"Resting..." She put her guns back in her pockets before looking back up like she was when I came in. "Sentry mode activated."

I propped my foot up against the girl in front of me (who felt somewhat metallic) and pushed her forward, causing her to fall flat on her face with a metallic thump, followed by the sound of wild gunfire into the floor and then the ceiling. "Malfunctioning!"

The gunfire stopped after two seconds, after which the girl curled up into a ball and closed her eyes. "Critical error..."

I walked down the hall the girl had been looking down, and around the corner I could see a pointer beam crossing my path. A peak in the direction of its source revealed said source to be another one of those girls, and I was quick to retreat behind a wall.

Given that the chamber was designed for military androids (whatever those are), it should've been possible for them to get through without a portal gun. But I wasn't a military android, so I needed to use my portal gun for this chamber. I put an orange portal in the room I'd started in, rushed in view of the girl down the hall, and fired a blue portal under her.

"Self-test error!" The sound of gunfire echoed around the corner, followed by a sad remark of "Shutting down...".

I kept walking through the chamber, and halfway down the hall around the corner, at the top of a staircase in a small niche was another girl. It took me a moment to decide whether to just portal straight to the next corner in the hall or portal up the stairs and push the girl down the stairs, but I decided on the former, as it would be less of a burden than having to jump out of sight after placing a portal.

Emerging from the portal, I saw what appeared to be a double pointer beam in the area ahead. From that, I deduced that there were two girls facing each other from opposite ends of the hall. One of them was visible behind a window, who turned to me and aimed her guns at me through the window. "There you are!"

The pointer beam still present in the hall despite this confirmed that there was a second girl down the hall.

Bullets pelted the window but still didn't pass through to me. "Hi? ... Firing! ... Gotcha!"

She stopped firing when I approached a panel on the wall which was jammed open by two Cubes. Something told me those weren't supposed to be there. When I dislodged them, the panel started to retract but stayed out far enough for me to squeeze under into an alcove within.

Despite the blast of warmer air that blew over me as I entered, a chill ran down my spine as I took in my surroundings. There were empty cans, cartons, and jugs laying atop disassembled computers scattered around the floor of the room, which was bathed in ember red light. On the wall near the entrance was a number of pictures and drawings surrounded by writings.

The one that stuck out the most was four repetitions of the sentence "The cake is a lie".

One hand-drawn picture had a crudely drawn girl standing under a Cube falling out of a portal on the ceiling above her. It took a moment to figure out what the artist was trying to convey.

I emerged from the alcove and brought one of the Cubes with me as I walked to the window divider near the first girl. Peeking around, I caught a glimpse of a red X on the ceiling. I quickly fired a blue portal at it before retreating and laying an orange portal on the wall next to me.

I dropped the Cube into the portal, and it landed on top of the girl, causing her to collapse and fire her guns crazily before curling up into a ball. "Shutting down..."

I shimmied back to the archway to reposition the blue portal above the other girl in the hall. The panel above her was also marked with a red X, and that's where I laid down the blue portal.

The second Cube came down on her, and she fell over shooting chaotically before curling up and going dormant. "Why?"

As I walked through the hall, I began to wonder if the girls in the chamber were robots; they all looked completely identical, their weaponry operated like machine guns despite appearing to be simple pistols, and they didn't get completely crushed by an object that must have weighed a fourth of my own body weight landing on their heads.

I didn't have much time to ponder this, as I saw two more girls through a window on my left.

I looked through the window, which was being frosted with bullet marks by the closer of the girls, and I saw that she was standing on a portalable surface. I moved behind the window divider to hide myself and waited for her to start putting away her guns.

"Resting..." I sidestepped into the open and fired a blue portal under her. She fell through and fired around before shutting down, and I approached the second girl.

I brought my foot up, placing it on her back, and pushed her forward. Gunshots rang out as she wailed in pain before curling up. "I don't hate you..."

In front of me, I saw two arches. Through the closer of the two, I saw a series of bullet holes and frost marks in a window. Under the impression that the girl that made those bullet holes was taken care of, I went into that room first.

There was a large pile of Cubes lying under a pipe that appeared to be jammed open, a suspicion that was reinforced by a pair of slip joint pliers sitting on top of one of the Cubes, in addition to a radio and a ceramic coffee cup.

The sound of gunfire in the other room drew my attention, leading to my assessment of the conditions confronting me. There were three girls guarding a Button that opened the exit door. There were X's on the ceiling above each one, and all three of them were standing on cement, which meant I could lay down portals under them.

From their positions, I could see that there was one girl who had the entrance arch in her line of view, so I decided to go after her first. I picked up a Cube and brought it with me to the entrance arch.

"Hello?" I dropped the Cube and ducked behind it, crawling until I had view of the X above the girl shooting at me. (The bullets didn't come through the Cube I was using as a shield.) One blue portal on the ceiling, and I moved outside the girl's view. Once I was safe, I put down an orange portal under the Cube.

There was a thump, followed by the sound of gunfire, and then the girl curling up and... deactivating.

Okay, I guess these really are robots I'm dealing with here.

I moved the orange portal to a wall near where I'd come in so I could peer into the room. I saw a robot close to the entrance arch. I was just outside her field of view, allowing me to get a portal laid down under her.

The last girl was easy; portal under her, and she went bye-bye.

Knowing that there was likely to be a surprise behind the door, I decided to stand on the Button that opened it. Sure enough, there was another robot in there. I jumped off, remembering that there was a cement wall behind her. I waited ten seconds for the girl to pack her weapons away before trying again.

I got on the Button, the door opened. The girl readied her weapons, I fired a blue portal behind her and jumped off the Button, closing the door.

Walking back to the orange portal, I got into the exit hall where two more robots were standing guard. The placement of impassable grates in the area seemed unusual, but I had more pressing matters at hand.

I pushed down the robot next to me, then portaled into the last part of the chamber and took out the last robot.

The walk into the elevator was punctuated with a thought-provoking announcement. "Well done, android; the Enrichment Center once again reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance."


	14. Chapter B11

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eleven

* * *

I was amazed that I hadn't gotten hit by a single bullet in the last chamber, so it took a moment to register the elevator opening in the next chamber. As I stepped through the plated hallway, the voice came up.

"The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver a Weighted Companion Cube in 3... 2... 1..."

A pipe opened above me, and I had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the object falling out of it. When it hit the floor, I turned around to look at the Cube.

Right away, I could see that it was very different from the other Cubes. The other Cubes had a gray outer casing; this Cube's casing was white. The other Cubes had blue lights on their faces; this Cube's faces had pink lights. Perhaps most obvious of all was that instead of a wedge spiral on the face caps, this Cube was sporting on its face caps a large pink heart.

The voice continued when I picked it up. "This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany you through the test chamber; please take care of it."

I didn't really pay much attention to what the voice was saying, as I was busy trying to get the chamber completed. The first obstacle was an over-sized staircase. I couldn't climb up it myself with the portal gun on my hand, and it didn't look like it was going to come off any time soon. In combination with the fact that I couldn't lay down any portals for the time being, I would need to use the Companion Cube as a step-stool.

I set the Cube down against the first ledge and climbed up on it. From there, I could easily reach the top of the first ledge. I brought the Cube up to me by laying on my front with my arms over the edge and using the portal gun to grab the Cube, which I then brought up to the ledge. Standing up, I repeated the process twice more until I made it to the top.

As I stood up from the final ledge, I saw a cement patch with a burn mark in the middle, which told me that there was a pellet nearby. The theory was confirmed by one bouncing off the wall. I headed down the hallway, Companion Cube held in front of me for protection.

Through my toes, I could feel the cold metal floor briefly switch to glass at the same time that a pellet bounced off the Cube, which was punctuated by a message from the voice.

"The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstitions, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations; the Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and in fact cannot speak."

My temptation to laugh was squelched by the sight of the pellet ricocheting like crazy in a room with two launchers aimed down two hallways, one of which was the one I was just now exiting.

The pellet exploded as I reached the bottom of the stairs, and the launchers both launched a pellet down their respective hallways simultaneously. I followed one through the hallway I hadn't been through. The pellet bounced off the Cube and bounced wildly through the area ahead of me. I made it down the stairs just as the pellet passed over my head. I wasn't sure if my hair caught fire, but a pat on my head confirmed that it wasn't.

Before I knew it, I was on the top of a cliff looking out on a canyon. The first thing to grab my attention was a pair of pillars with angled tops, one of which had a catcher mounted to it. From the shape, it was fairly easy to see what was expected of me.

I fired a blue portal onto the empty top and went back to the hall I had come in through. There, I fired an orange portal at the most prominent burn mark in the area. The pellet went through as I returned to the cliff and bounced into the catcher.

A sound to my right attracted my attention, and I saw a Victory Lift rising up to the cliff's height. I walked over to it and I saw two more still to be raised. I turned around, picked up my Cube, and jumped down to the canyon floor.

There were two archways within my reach; one was between the two angled-top pillars, another was across from the platforms I needed to raise. The former had its contents clearly visible, while the latter had a hallway with a sharp turn. That's where I decided to go first.

The entire room at the end of the short hall was metal, with only a launcher and a catcher on adjacent walls and no cement patches. I was going to have to take my chances and bounce the pellet off my Cube and into the catcher. I first positioned the Cube at the proper angle and then slowly nudged it forward behind the pellet as it was heading for the launcher.

The pellet bounced off the Cube and struck the catcher, which promptly closed upon it. The wave of relief that passed over me was accented by yet another message from the voice.

"The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak; in the event that the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice."

I left the room in time to watch the second Victory Lift reach its apex. I fired an orange portal on a protruding panel in front of me and a blue portal at the top of the cliff before picking up the Cube.

As I approached the portal, I could hear a faint, raspy voice emanating from the Cube. "... Ella ... va ... a ... matarte ..."

I knew what that meant, being bilingual in Spanish and English, but the message was too vague. I shrugged it off and entered the portal, making my way back to the entrance hallways.

When I got to the launcher room, I saw that only one launcher was active. I had a clear path from the cliff to the launcher room, so it was easy to see which one it was. I fired a blue portal down the hall with the active pellet and headed back to the clifftop. Jumping down, I entered the last unexplored room, dodging an exiting pellet in the process.

In the room were two doors lined up behind one another; both of them were closed and were operated by their own Button. One was on the floor in the path of the pellet bouncing off the first door, the other was on a platform next to a catcher behind the two doors. I put the Companion Cube on that Button and then walked to the first Button.

I waited for the pellet to pass over the Button before stepping on it. The door opened, and the pellet migrated into the catcher.

I retrieved the Companion Cube from the Button and walked into the orange portal on the wall. It was a long walk back to the cliff top, but I wasn't under the impression that there were any time constraints for completing the test track. (At least for getting cake at the end.)

Finally reaching the cliff, I saw the three raised Lifts leading to a plated hallway. It was a long jump between platforms, but I somehow made it across in one go.

I made it into the room at the end of the hall, where I saw a Button on the floor that operated a door at the bottom of a staircase in front of me. I dropped the Cube on the Button and headed to the opened door.

"You did it; the Weighted Companion Cube certainty brought you good luck!" The voice seemed more enthusiastic than usual. "However, it cannot accompany you through the rest of the test and unfortunately must be euthanized." I was confused until I saw where the open door led and realized that it led to a button that opened a large hatch on the floor. "Please escort your Companion Cube to the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator."

I found myself gripped with indecision. For some reason, I didn't want to incinerate the Companion Cube. I went into the room with the button and pressed it. The hatch opened and started belching out hot gases, making the already hot room even hotter.

"Rest assured that an independent panel of ethicists has absolved the Enrichment Center, Aperture Science employees, and all test subjects of any moral responsibility for the Companion Cube euthanizing process."

That's not helping. The hatch closed as the message concluded, and I walked back to the Button where the Companion Cube was. I took it off the Button and placed it on the closed hatch before turning to the closed exit door.

"Although the euthanizing process is remarkably painful, eight out of ten Aperture Science engineers believe that the Companion Cube is most likely incapable of feeling much pain."

What's that supposed to mean? I resisted the urge to kick the Companion Cube with my bare feet, instead slumping against the window of the button room and banging my fist against the glass.

"While it has been a faithful companion, your Companion Cube cannot accompany you for the rest of the test; if it could talk (and the Enrichment Center takes this opportunity to remind you that it cannot), it would tell you to go on without it because it would rather die in a fire than become a burden to you."

Alright, point taken. I grabbed the Companion Cube and put it on the Button. I went to open the hatch, then ran back to the Cube, picked it up, carried it to the incinerator, and threw it in.

There was a soft rumble as the hatch closed, a wayward flame licking up through the hole as it closed.

"You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record. Congratulations."

The exit door opened and I made my way to the elevator.


	15. Chapter B12

**Chell's Story: Part B  
**Chapter Twelve

* * *

The elevator came to a halt and opened on a hallway. As I stepped through, the voice came on with an announcement.

"The experiment is nearing its conclusion." Great. "The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake."

Oh, is that why it's so hot in here? Because I'm being baked? Well, I guess that explains why there seems to be so many things trying to kill me.

I could see that there was a real openness to the test chamber ahead of me; I was standing on a single platform all alone over a vast pit of slime. Across from me was a wide ledge next to a hole in the wall.

Thankfully, the whole ceiling was cement, which allowed me to place a portal directly above it. Not wanting to jump into a portal on the wall, I laid the other portal on the floor of the hall I had come in through.

The landing was heavy, but it was the next to last test chamber, so I was used to it. The hole in the wall nearby seemed out of place, so I decided to take a look inside.

There was a hideout very similar to the one in the live fire course, with empty cans, jugs, and computer parts strewn around, graffiti and posters on the wall, and a radio on a nearby shelf. I also found a catwalk leading up to a door, but when I got there, I saw that the door was guarded with a keypad. A tug at the door confirmed that it was locked, and I was not going to try to guess what the code was.

Seeing nothing of relevant interest, I went back into the test chamber.

I could see that the task of moving forward would require reaching a ledge above the one I was on. I was going to have to portal myself to the ceiling above it to get there, but the floor was metal and wouldn't accept portals. So I was going to have to put a portal on a wall above a slime pit and jump straight into the portal.

I got the portals in place (I did have to reposition the portal on the ceiling so I wouldn't fall into the slime pit behind the ledge) and made a running jump for the portal on the wall. I reached out a foot and both hands to grab the portal edges (I was successful in that task) and pulled myself through, front flipping into a safe but hard landing on the next ledge.

I was relieved to see that I wouldn't have to make any more leaps of faith in the foreseeable future; the floor of this ledge was cement, as was the entire ceiling of the area. Once I portaled to the next ledge, I could see a double ledge with a closed door on the higher of the two ledges.

I portaled myself to the closed door and walked over to the edge above the lower ledge below me. Looking behind me, I saw a row of protruding panels near the ceiling above the door. I put an orange portal up there and a blue portal on the ledge below and I jumped down.

I made a landing on a ledge on the other side, somersaulted over a Button on the floor, and slid on my back into a dark hallway.

As I recovered, I could see a piston extending through the hall next to a window. A nearby button drew my attention, and pressing it pushed the panel attached to the piston forward and angled upward. Ducking under the piston, I emerged in a large room that was still pretty open but not as empty.

I was on a large ledge overlooking a vast pit of slime. Protruding from the pit was a piston carrying a rotating pellet launcher. It functioned very much like the portal gun pedestals in chambers 02 and 11. There were also four platforms protruding from the slime, each carrying a little robot girl. At the moment, it didn't appear that any of them could see me.

I made my way to the corner of the room in my reach, where I could see a catcher in a sealed compartment. There, I started fully assessing the test chamber layout. The first thing I needed to do was to get rid of the robot girls so that I would have optimal space at my disposal.

There was an obvious choice of weapon to use for that objective: the rotating pellet launcher. The burn marks had been carved into craters by the pellets bouncing off of the walls and the points on the wall where the robots' pointer beams were aimed provided excellent reference.

My first portal placement made myself visible to one of the girls for a second. I moved the orange portal to the crater closest to the pellet launcher, and I disappeared from her sight again. As my work payed its dividends, I could see that the pellets simply pushed the girls off their platforms and into the slime below. The voice did mention that the pellets could vaporize whatever they touched, which I assumed to be exclusive to organic matter (i.e. me) and not metal or concrete or stuff like that.

Soon enough, all four robot girls had been sent into the slime pit far below. Now I could focus on getting the pellet into the catcher.

I quickly racked myself up with the hurdle in my path. The button that opened the heavy door shielding the catcher was perched atop a post. The point where the pellet was supposed to emerge to reach the catcher was identifiable when I pushed said button, but that point was obstructed from the button by a deployed panel. That meant I'd have to place portals to get the pellet on the proper path, re-position the portals so I could reach the button that opened the heavy door, and then press the button to open the door so the pellet could reach the catcher.

It took three tries to get that process completed, but one nosebleed later, the pellet was in the catcher.

Alright, now to figure out what the catcher activated. I found the answer close to where I had come in at. There was a Scaffold moving from the ledge across the slime pit to a double decker alcove in the wall on the other side.

Riding the Scaffold, I could see the robots floating facedown in the slime below. I was a bit curious about why the slime was so far below the ledges if there was nothing just above the surface.

Once I was off the Scaffold and in the lower alcove, I looked back and saw that under the main ledge there was in fact a small platform just barely above the slime. There were two cement walls in the alcove (invisible from the main ledge), and a button next to one of them. Pressing it opened the panel I had come in through, and the deployed angle of the panel registered the connection to the low platform. I was supposed to fling myself to the upper alcove.

The panel retracted as I laid down portals to get back to the main ledge, and I pressed the button again. I ran through the portal, repositioned them for a fling, and jumped down to the lower ledge into the portal.

This fling was probably the most terrifying one yet. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. Obviously, I did make it, but the landing rollout was tight to say the least. The only thing in the upper alcove was a Vital Apparatus Vent with a Cube underneath it. I picked it up and jumped down to the Scaffold below.

Upon reaching the other side, I set the Cube on the floor and rode back to the lower alcove to open the way out. Portal placements, push button, grab Cube, get out.

Once I was out, I dropped the Cube on the Button, opening the door within view. I wasn't going to chance a jump, so I opted to portal myself there. The exit portal was laid down easy enough, but I had to go back to the room I was just in for the entrance portal.

I was through the door soon enough, and at the end of the hall was another challenge. A panel on a slime pit, a deep drop to a cement floor. I knew where this was going. Portal on both, jump down, and I was catapulted straight up. I recognized that I had to shoot alternating color portals on higher and higher platforms to get past.

At the end of it all, I was flung in an arc and landed just outside the elevator, again having a short and painful rollout.

"Well done." I stood up and limped into the elevator. "Be advised that the next test requires exposure to uninsulated electrical parts which may be dangerous under certain conditions; for more information, please attend an Enrichment Center electrical safety seminar."


	16. Chapter B13

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Thirteen

* * *

The elevator opened up in a white hallway, and I started walking through, the voice narrating my progress.

"Welcome to the final test." Thank goodness. "When you are done, you will drop the Device in the Equipment Recovery Annex. Enrichment Center regulations require both hands to be empty before any cake - cambeser-cacacacacacacacaca - "

I didn't pay any mind to the last part, instead looking at the chamber confronting me. It seemed almost disappointingly simple for a last test chamber; all I had to do was get a pellet in a catcher and then ride an Unstationary Scaffold. How hard could it be?

My question was answered by the fact that the angled panels under the launcher and catcher didn't allow direct portal path alignment, and the surrounding walls were plated with metal. On top of that, there was a bar blocking the tunnel where the Scaffold was destined to go.

I did see a grate platform behind the bar where the Scaffold rounded a corner, and it clicked that it would be something important.

Eventually, I figured out the trick to getting the pellet into the catcher; I had to remove a portal after the pellet passed through so that it would bounce up into the catcher. Once that was done, I needed to find a safe way onto the now active Scaffold.

I portaled myself to the grate platform in the corner, and from there, I saw a niche right outside a heavy door. I portaled there and pressed a button on there. The door opened and then promptly closed one second later. Pressing it again, I shot a portal through the door and waited for the Scaffold to pass under the door.

I hopped on, and as I rounded the next corner, I saw a green pellet bouncing in my path. Using portals, I diverted it out of my path, and through the subsequent portal positions, I was able to watch myself go by the window.

Around the next corner, I saw a wall partially obstructing my path to the exit. There was a wide enough gap for me to lay down a portal to allow me to circumvent the wall.

My mouth started to water as I neared the next corner, which was completely encased with metal. But my mouth dried up instantly at the sound of the voice's final announcement.

"Congratulations. The test is now over. All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4,000 degrees Kelvin." The Scaffold slowed down slightly as it rounded the corner, sinking closer and closer to a waiting fire. "Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence. Thank you for participating in the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment activity. Goodbye!"

I tightened my grip on my portal gun. No way am I going to stay here and get burned alive!

Approaching the opening at the end of the tunnel, I saw a balcony above me and immediately fired a portal up there. The surrounding walls were bare cement, allowing me to place another portal there.

As soon as the time was right, I jumped through the portal, somersaulting across the balcony to the railing.

As I recovered, the voice burst over the PA, visibly shocked and void of composure. "What are you doing?! Stop it! I - I - I-IIIIIIIIIIII - We... are pleased that you made it through the final challenge where we pretended we were going to murder you."

What kind of sob story is that?

"We are very, very happy for your success; we are throwing a party in honor of your tremendous success." The original tone returned, but its hold had been damaged beyond repair. "Place the Device on the ground and lie on your stomach with your arms at your sides. A Party Associate will arrive shortly to collect you for your party. Make no further attempt to leave the testing area. Assume the Party Escort Submission position or you will miss the party."

You think I'm going to listen to you after you tried to kill me? Stick it up your nose!

I marched over to the door, rage burning hotter than the flames below, but I was unable to get the door open, and there was no response from the other side.

Just as I thought. No one's waiting for me. She's just trying to kill me.

I looked around for somewhere to run. The only pathways I could find were the way I had come in and a set of ruptured pipes some distance above it. But how am I supposed to get up there?

I found the answer directly above me. The entire back wall was cement, as was the floor, providing an ideal fling spot. Orange portal up top, blue portal on the wall next to me, walk through, blue portal on the floor, fling through...

...and make a hard belly-flop against a water tank above.


	17. Chapter B14

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Fourteen

* * *

I pulled myself out of the dent in the water tank and was greeted by a gaping gash in the entire front of my jumpsuit, revealing a sizable area of shredded flesh in my midriff. The pain was immense, but I was determined to find a way out of this place if it was the last thing I did.

As I started down the first path I could find, I took a moment to take in the immense degree of disrepair of the walls around me; this was a sharp contrast to the hospital-clean test chambers I had just escaped. And as if it wasn't already hot in the test chambers, this place was a sauna even without the flames from the Equipment Recovery Annex.

The fragility of the environment made itself known when a staircase buckled under my weight. At least there was an ample supply of bare cement, so I had no difficulty utilizing my still-working portal gun to get up on the catwalk.

An unlatched door presented itself, which I opened to reveal a room full of robot girls; some were in the process of being built, others were facing a wall on the other side of a grate. As I approached, two of them were hoisted away.

A short exploration of the room brought me to a locked gate with a door beyond it. With portals, I was able to get around the gate and open the door.

I found myself in what looked to be a wind tunnel and was greeted by the echo of the voice.

"Hello? Where are you? I know you're there; I can feel you here. Hello?"

The lack of panic in the voice's tone had me somewhat on edge. Even though I appeared to be safe from whoever (or whatever) was talking, it seemed to me that I was being followed a minion or something.

I wasn't going to try to walk through the fans lest I be sliced like a slab of liverwurst. The obvious solution was to portal past it. Looking back to see which portal I had walked out of, I fired the opposite color at the fan until a shot made it past the spinning blades. Then I headed back to the portal I had come in through before, taking note of the bloody toe prints I was tracking, and walked through the portal.

Upon emerging, I saw I would have to get across a flooded pit, which seemed somewhat out of place. Ignoring this, I fired a portal across the gap and made my way through. There was a door close by, but it was locked. There had been a catwalk partially obstructing my view when I fired the portal across the gap, and an analysis of the walls and ceiling provided me with a means of flinging myself onto the catwalk, which I proceeded to do.

I went into the door and looked around the area. I came across a window with a room where a slide projector was running.

_Dollar$ and Sense: Competing with Black Mesa for DoD and Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts_

_What is Black Mesa?_  
_2.59% of ALL DoD contracts_  
_10 billion in federal dollars annually_  
_12% from full and open competition_  
_88% from no-bids or excluded-sources bids_  
_NOT bound by Government Performance and Results Act_

Next, there was a graph showing a five-year review of GSA schedules. Black Mesa proposed about 20 projects, and was awarded probably 18; Aperture proposed 315 projects, but was only awarded maybe five or even less.

_A Case Study: Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System_  
_Defense Logistics Agency solicits bids for development of fuel system icing inhibitor (FSII)_  
_Black Mesa FSII proposal:_  
_= Costly; Black Mesa personnel overpaid given limited skillset/ambition_  
_= Design inhibits ice, nothing more_  
_Aperture proposal:_  
_= Less expensive_  
_= Bonus to DLA; Aperture FSII inhibits ice but is also:  
\- A fully functioning Disc Operating System_  
_\- Arguably alive_

The presentation looped back to the title slide, and I continued exploring the offices. One of them was an observation room overlooking chamber 14, another was an observation room overlooking chamber 09. I found the locked door that prevented me from simply walking in here and opened it.

Seeing nothing of interest beyond a handful of overturned chairs (getting chills as thoughts ate at me that I had a hand in their involvement), I headed out across the catwalk to keep searching for an escape.

I came across a large area with a graffiti painting resembling the test chamber exit signs. An arrow pointed out a cement wall near the ceiling, which I laid a portal down on. Another portal made its way on the floor beneath it, and I jumped through.

As I somersaulted and slid to a stop under another catwalk, the voice returned. "What are you doing? You haven't escaped, you know."

Not yet, but I will. I headed to the stairs leading to the catwalk and headed up. "You're not even going the right way."

The statement was proved wrong by a ruptured glass pipe at the top of the catwalk. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Not anymore. I jumped the railing and slid into the hole in the pipe, where I went sliding for several seconds curled up in a ball. It was readily apparent that the pipes weren't designed to transport humans.

At the end of the ride, I found myself breaking off the cover of the Vital Apparatus Vent in chamber 09. My entrance was punctuated by the voice. "Okay, the test is over now; you win. Go back to the Equipment Recovery Annex for your cake. It was a fun test, and we're all impressed at how much you won. The test is over; come back."

I went over to the Button on the floor beyond the Emancipation Grill and stood on it. I fired a portal through the open door, another on the wall next to me, and I went through. The elevator shaft was empty, and an upward glance confirmed that the elevator was at the entrance to chamber 10. Looking down, I saw a patch of concrete at the bottom of the shaft and jumped down.

As soon as I landed, the voice echoed down the shaft from above. "Uh-oh! Somebody cut the cake! I told them to wait for you, but they cut it anyway. There is still some left, though, if you hurry back."

Let them eat the cake. My path was blocked by a locked gate, which led to a room with a number of large oscillating pistons, which was divided lengthwise by a thick concrete slab. A portal on the underside of the slab and another beneath my feet brought me into the room.

I crawled under the slab towards a pair of pistons coming up out of the floor. I stood on the taller of the two, which brought me within range of placing a portal on the top side of the slab, which I did. When the pistons lowered themselves to the floor, I walked around back under the concrete slab and went back into the portal.

I emerged up top, where a much larger piston was sliding horizontally into a wall beneath a platform with another painted "exit sign". It was then that I realized that someone was guiding me. Whether it was to my escape or to my death was unknown, but I was willing to trust them over the voice.

I hopped on the piston once it retracted and rode it to its full extension, being jerked off onto the platform by the sudden stop. I walked down the tunnel and came to a grate overlooking a shaft with a glass pipe running across the floor. I shot a portal into the shaft and back tracked to the portal on the top side of the slab via the last piston I had used.

Stepping through, I found an opening above me and fired a portal across from it, which I jumped through. After which, I headed down the hallway within.


	18. Chapter B15

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Fifteen

* * *

I emerged in a large room with five large pistons. I passed a hallway opening just as the voice returned.

"You're not even going the right way. Where do you think you're going? Because I don't think you're going where you think you're going."

I stepped into the big room to assess the area. "Hello?"

The two pistons in the back reached up to the ceiling, the two in the front came up maybe 16 feet short, and the one in the middle of the floor came up 8 feet short of the ceiling. I got on that one and rode it up to its full extension, where I found a path and a cement wall. I fired a portal there before riding the piston back down to the floor.

I shot the other color on a nearby wall and walked through. The path led to a collapsed floor into an engine room, and as I passed through the entrance, I was greeted by the voice again.

"Didn't we have some fun, though? Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said 'Goodbye!', and you were like 'NO WAY!', and then I was all 'We were pretending we were going to murder you!'? That was great."

I was slightly taken aback by the voice citing my response as "no way"; my thought reaction started with it, so I wasn't sure if she had read or was reading my thoughts. But I was quick to dismiss it in favor of focusing on the task at hand.

"Is anyone there?"

The only cement in reach was a low ceiling block being pounded by two large pistons. There was another cement ceiling above a large horizontal piston, and a portal above it and a portal directly above me showed that the pistons in my reach and the piston I needed to reach weren't in sync with each other.

I re-positioned the exit portal further back along the slab and saw another piston behind the one in view. It was mounted on the opposite wall of the other piston, running parallel to it, and its full retraction was 8 feet out of the wall like its twin.

I hopped on one of the pistons next to me and placed a portal directly above me, jumping through in a tuck and roll. I landed on the piston and bounced onto the other piston before landing on the floor beside them.

As I recover, I saw what appeared to be a Cube smelter dropping Cubes into a pipe funnel. Placing both portals on the floor to avoid losing the progress I had made so far, my attention was drawn to another "exit sign" mural pointing up. I looked around until I saw a cement patch on the wall near the ceiling. I fired a portal up there and jumped through the one on the floor, re-positioning it so I would fall through it.

Sliding into the wall on the platform I had reached, I looked around until I saw a path obstructed by a series of small pulsing pistons. I portaled past them in time to hear the voice again.

"You really shouldn't be here; this isn't safe for you. It's not too late for you to turn back. I'm not angry; just go back to the testing area."

Wow. It must have taken a lot of effort to say that now instead of when I was in the testing track, with the slime pits, energy balls, and not having proper footwear. Now that I think about it, why have I not hurt myself walking barefoot in a rusting, unkempt facility?

I portaled past a pair of pistons blocking the path and found myself in a large room with a tangle of pistons extending and retracting and slamming against one another overhead. I picked out the highest accessible piston and placed a portal above it and another on wall close to me. It took a bit of trial and error, but I found a higher point than where the portal ended up. From there (after several repeated falls from the cylindrical surfaces and slipping on my own blood), I was able to portal to a sealed room.

Once in there, I found a pipe running through a partially open area, allowing me to walk along it. I followed it until I could no longer do so, at which point I found another pipe. This time, it came out of the ceiling and then ran level off to my left. I jumped for the vertical segment on my right and slid down, prompting another thought-provoking announcement from the voice.

"I feel sorry for you, really, because you're not even in the right place." I kept walking along the pipe. "You should have turned left before. It's funny, actually, when you think about it. Someday, you'll remember this and laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh, boy. Well, you may as well come on back."

I really didn't get what the voice was talking about, and I didn't feel any reason to find out. My thoughts turned to a piston slamming into a wall.

I got a portal above the wall where the piston was hitting, and was faced with the challenge of placing a portal I could reach. It became evident that I'd have to backtrack and jump for a cement wall across a pit of slime.

It was the only way I was going to move forward, so I laid down the other portal, and when the timing was right, I made a jump for it.

I made it, and I found myself on a platform leading to a hallway. At the end was a door and a pit indicated by an arrow. The door was locked, so I was forced to jump down the shaft, which I proceeded to do.


	19. Chapter B16

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Sixteen

* * *

It wasn't too long a drop before I landed, and I found myself in a small area. There was an air duct in the wall, and across from it was a larger area with what appeared to be a hallway. The air duct led to a hideout like the ones in the testing track, so I headed for the hallway.

Before I could reach it, though, the floor opened up under me, dropping me into another room.

Looking around, I saw three large doors lining three of the four cement walls. Instinctively, I opened an orange portal on the wall, and was met with one of the doors hissing open.

I jumped off to the side, hearing the voice of a little robot girl. "Activated! Are you still there?"

I got into position and fired a blue portal under her. "Malfunctioning!"

The middle door hissed open, revealing another robot girl. A blue portal landed at her feet.

I got in position to confront the third door, which hissed open to reveal yet another robot girl. I portaled her out of there and waited for her to deactivate.

Once that was done, I started looking around for a way out. I found it behind the third door, where a claw was dangling from the ceiling. The gap in the ceiling provided me with a view of a cement surface, where I fired a portal. I walked into its opposite color and fell out of a ceiling into another room.

"You're not a good person. You know that, right?" The voice was clearly not happy. "Good people don't end up here. Can you hear me?"

It's kinda hard not to hear you.

I looked around the area, seeing only a sealed off space with a number of robot girls. Strangely, only one of them was standing; the others were laying on the floor eagle spread and riddled with bullet wounds. And the only girl standing had a blinking laser instead of a solid laser.

Curious, I portaled myself into the room to investigate.

"Deploying!" I braced myself for gunfire, but no bullets came my way. When I looked, I saw that the girl was aiming for me, but was only succeeding in producing clicking noises.

Stepping closer, I saw the girl look at me with puppy dog eyes. I reached over with my free hand, but the girl shook her head. I realized that she didn't want to be pushed over, and had gunned down her compatriots so as to prevent her posing any danger to me.

I promptly turned around and walked back into the portal to try to find a way out.

There was a catwalk above me, which I had to reach by pendulum flinging. Portal on the ceiling, portal on the floor under a gap in the catwalk railing, jump through, move the other portal to the floor, and scramble onto the catwalk when reached.

I found an air duct leading to a niche with another robot girl inside. Remembering my encounter with the previous one, I picked her up using the portal gun.

"Who are you?" She flailed around, apparently not wanting to be picked up.

The front wall opened up onto another room, and I carried the girl down to the floor and positioned her to face the wall.

"Searching..." She scoured the wall for something to shoot.

"Resting..." She packed away her weapons.

"Searching..." I continued my search for an escape.

A floor search yielded only another hideout in an air duct. The only other thing I found was a catwalk above the path leading to the hideout.

An angled panel provided a means of getting up there, and after a couple portal placements, I was up there.

As I entered the office space within, the voice reprimanded me again.

"This is your fault; it didn't have to be like this." Yeah, you could've not had the end of the test track lead into a fire pit.

I searched the offices and found nothing of interest. There was an Emancipation Grill covering a door at the very end of the hall, and I opened the door.

"I'm not kidding now; turn back or I will kill you." You mean you weren't trying to already?

The area was just a red button and a window showing a room with a flickering light. Pushing the red button summoned activity from the other side of the window and a final announcement from the voice.

"I'm going to kill you. And all the cake is gone. You don't even care, do you? This is your last chance."

The entity on the other side of the window revealed itself to be a robot carrying a rocket launcher. He had a large helmet that covered his eyes, with a blue laser being emitted from it, and had a thick gray jacket over his body, with the only color being a glowing green band on the end of the launcher. He was bound to a chair that swiveled around in the floor.

When he caught sight of me, the green light turned yellow, and he loaded a rocket into the launcher. He pulled the trigger, and the yellow light turned red as the rocket was launched at the window. The rocket exploded, destroying the window. When the smoke cleared, I saw a green light on the launcher again.

I ran through the empty window frame and stood in front of the window on the other side. He saw me again, and he loaded his launcher. I stepped out of the way, but he didn't move until the rocket had destroyed the other window. I waited for him to start turning around before rushing down the hall and through a door.

I continued my run until I came across a window. I had to get past it, which meant I'd need "help" from the rocket launcher. I laid down a blue portal on the wall facing the window before trekking back to the room with the rocket launcher, where I laid down an orange portal. He readied himself for launch, and I ran back to the room with the window, which was destroyed as soon as I reached it.

I moved the blue portal out of the way, unsure if I would need the launcher in the future. I soon found my progress once again arrested, this time by a dead end. The only thing I could see that would move me further was an air duct, but it was out of reach. An idea manifested itself when I saw a glass pipe running overhead.

I put the portal near the floor to put myself in the rocket's line of fire, then re-positioned the portal so that the rocket would hit the pipe. When it did, a Cube fell out, which I used as a step stool to get into the air duct. The copious bleeding made it difficult to keep a grip on the inside of the duct, which nearly led me to sliding into a fan at the other end. Fortunately, I was able to get a portal down in the area underneath of the fan.

Crawling back out, I laid down another portal to get past the air duct. Upon exiting, I found myself in what appeared to be a sewer. There was a door nearby, but it was locked, so I was forced to portal onto a ledge and shimmy down the shaft.


	20. Chapter B17

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Seventeen

* * *

As I reached the far end of the ledge, I found another platform, which I portaled myself onto. The door over there was also locked, and there were no other clues to where to go except for an arrow pointing up a sewer grate. I fired a portal up there, and went through the portal already next to me.

Only when I stepped into the muck on the other side was I aware of how trying my trek had been on my feet. I knew the toe-deep liquid I was mushing through was sewage, but I couldn't help but feel relieved by the coolness of it, sapping away the heat of the environment which had drained away much of my sweat and blood.

It occurred to me that I was in a trench, and I proceeded to portal myself out of it using one of the patches of cement above me.

But as soon as I landed, I saw eight doors around me hiss open simultaneously, each revealing a little robot girl. I ducked behind a column on the wall, which thankfully was out of sight of all of the girls. I decided to portal into each niche one at a time and eliminate the girls as I passed them.

It was a risky maneuver, since there was always the chance of putting a portal in front of the girls instead of behind them. I did do that occasionally, but each time, I was able to duck out of sight before rushing in at the right time (indicated by the laser pointer returning to full forward), grabbing them with the portal gun, and throwing them down to the floor.

Once I got high enough, I was able to just take them out with floor portals sniper style.

I portaled back to the floor to check that I got them all, and then I started looking for a way out. There were two angled panels, which I was sure would fling me somewhere. I portaled up to a niche where I could reach one of them, and after putting a portal on that panel, proceeded to fling myself from it. I found myself going up in the air to nowhere, so I tried the other panel. This time, I was successful.

When I landed, I was met by two claws lowering two girls to the floor, prompting me to hide behind a pipe, They didn't see me, and I shot portals under them in turn to clear them.

Once they were gone, I started looking around for a place to run next. The only thing I saw was a hole in the ceiling with leaking steam pipes above it. I made haste to fling myself up in that direction, which I did by jumping down into the big room into a portal and flinging upward. The steam blew me onto a platform from which I was able to reach a high walkway via portals.

I was becoming delirious from the constant loss of blood, but I kept walking along the catwalk until I reached a door. Through it, I found myself in yet another office area. There was another room showing the same presentation I had seen earlier during my escape, and I suddenly became curious about the name Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System.

I used my left hand to write out the first letter of each word on my right arm in blood, which spelled out GLaDOS.

Where have I heard that name before?

I decided to dwell on it later. In the meantime, I kept walking down the halls, trailing blood as I walked, until I reached an alcove with glass walls. Through them, I could see a large room in a dark area, supported by steel pillars.

I found the access hallway further down behind an unlocked door. The air experienced a drastic temperature change as I drew nearer and nearer to the room at the end of the hall.


	21. Chapter B18

**Chell's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eighteen

* * *

I would've collapsed from blood loss or dehydration (I don't know which) if not for what I saw in front of me. There was a gigantic machine suspended from a large generator by several large bundles of power cables. The shape looked vaguely human-like, but the presence of five people attached to it somewhat downgraded that appearance. Four of the people on the chassis were completely white and one of four colors: red, orange, aqua, and purple. The fifth was slung down at the bottom of the chassis, and looked almost twice as big as the others.

Her short hair was metallic white, almost as white as Her skin. She had bright yellow eyes that seemed to glow, black lipstick, black nails, smooth eyebrows, and thick eyelashes. She had on a large headset, a metallic lab coat, a black turtleneck, and a yellow neckerchief with a glowing yellow medallion on Her chest. The outfit was completed with a smooth white skirt, full leg length black socks, and metallic white high heels.

She was typing on a laptop as I entered the chamber, but as I neared Her, She turned Her gaze upward to look me in the eyes. She let off a long breath, tapped a key on Her keyboard (which I suspect shut the door behind me), and slumped back in Her seat, folding Her legs and arms as She did so.

"Well, you found me. Congratulations." I had already suspected that She was the voice I had been hearing all this time, and Her first words to me confirmed it. It also confirmed to me that She was the Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System (GLaDOS) from the slideshow. "Was it worth it? Because despite your violent behavior, the only thing you've managed to break so far is my heart."

Yeah, right. And the "only thing" you've managed to break so far is my trust.

"Maybe we could settle for that, and we'll just call it a day." I was interrupted before I could respond. "I guess we both know that isn't going to happen." I shook my head in confirmation. "You chose this path, and now I have a surprise for you."

She brought Her laptop back under Her fingers and started typing on it before counting off Her fingers. "Deploying surprise in five... four... th - " Suddenly, there was a loud pop, followed by a scream and then a thud.

We both looked to see what happened, and GLaDOS quickly flashed a T-sign. "Time out for a second; that wasn't supposed to happen!" I rushed over to where whatever happened happened, and saw that the woman in purple had fallen off the chassis.

"Do you see that thing that fell off of me? What is that?" I flipped the woman on her back and saw a sizable dent in her forehead. The fall had likely knocked her unconscious. "It's not the surprise; I've never seen it before."

Jerking my head up in response to that statement, I caught sight of an incinerator shaft at the back end of the chamber. I grabbed the woman under the shoulders and caught a glimpse of GLaDOS, who waved Her hand in dismissal.

"Never mind; it's a mystery I'll solve later. (By myself, because you'll be dead.)" She suddenly noticed that I was dragging the unconscious woman toward the incinerator. "Wait, where are you taking that thing?"

I had an idea from the metallic feel of the woman's body and the difficulty carrying her (mostly from my excessive bleeding) that she was a robot.

"I wouldn't bother with that thing; my guess is that touching it will just make your life even worse somehow."

My life is already living hell; how could it possibly get any worse?

"I don't want to tell you your business, but if you were me, I'd leave that thing alone."

Well, if you were me, I wouldn't have tried to kill you when the test was finished.

"Do you think I'm trying to trick you with reverse psychology? I mean, seriously now."

I have no idea what that is, but I'm in no mood to try and find out.

"Okay, fine. Do touch it. Pick it up and just... stick it back on to me."

I was already halfway to the incinerator at that point, and I had no idea how to put her back on.

"Let's be honest; neither one of us knows what that thing does." GLaDOS pointed at a booth near the side of the chamber. "Just put it in the corner, and I'll deal with it later."

The line of lights between the booth and the incinerator told me that there was a button that opened the incinerator in the booth. I put the woman down and fired portals near the incinerator and the booth.

"That thing is probably some kind of raw sewage container; go ahead and rub your face all over it."

I grabbed my ravaged abdomen to stop myself from laughing.

"Maybe you should marry that thing since you love it so much. Do you want to marry it? **Well, I won't let you!** How does that feel?"

It makes me feel like you're jumping to conclusions.

"Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room? Seriously, leave that thing alone."

I finally got the robot to the base of the incinerator hatch and trundled my way to the booth.

"I am being serious now; that crazy thing is not part of any test protocol."

Yeah, neither is trying to kill a test subject for reaching the finish line. Plus, we're not even testing anymore, now are we?

"Think about it; if that thing is important, why don't _I_ know about it?"

You should've known about it, considering that it was attached to you.

"Just ignore that thing and stand still."

I reached the button and pushed it. Sure enough, the hatch opened, belching out hot gases from deep within before closing a few seconds later.

"I'll tell you what that thing _isn't_: it _isn't_ yours. So leave it alone."

I slammed the button and ran through the portal to the incinerator where the unconscious robot lay.

"**Are you even listening to me?**"

I hoisted the robot up by her feet and she slid down headfirst into the inferno waiting below.

There was a distant thump as the hatch closed, a single flame licking up at the last second.

GLaDOS's arms went limp. "You are kidding me." She pushed Herself into a standing position, Her back tethered to the seat by a series of power cords. "_Did you just drop that Aperture Science thing which we don't know what it does into an Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator?!_" She smacked Her hand into Her face. "_That has got to be the _dumbest_ thing that _\- " Her hand jerked off Her face, revealing an expression of sudden realization, " - **WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOOOOA!...**"

She slowly sat back down, Her face slowly shifting into a devious smirk full of perfect white teeth and Her hands folding together and twitching in a scheming manner. The lights grew dim as She continued to speak, Her voice transitioning through soft chuckles from a robotic syncopated monotone to a more human, almost seductive tone.

"Good news... I figured out what that thing you just incinerated **did**." The small amount of blood I had left ran cold. "It was a Morality Core they installed after I flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin." She brought Her laptop back into Her possession and started typing. "_So get comfortable while I warm up the neurotoxin emitterssss..._"

The transition from the elongated "S" sound and the sound of the neurotoxin entering the chamber was imperceptible and was only noticed when four monitors in the chamber flashed 6:00.00 and started counting down from six minutes.

There was still just enough light to see around the chamber, and I saw a rocket robot rising up out of the floor.

GLaDOS seemed mildly concerned. "Hm. That core may have had some ancillary responsibilities; I can't shut off the turret defenses."

I was quick to turn this to my advantage, placing portals to trick the rocket launcher into shooting the chassis.

"Ah, well." GLaDOS quickly dismissed the issue. "If you want my advice, you should just lie down in front of a rocket. Trust me; it'll be a lot less painful than the neurotoxin."

The rocket flew through the portal and struck the chassis, expelling the teenage girl in orange. GLaDOS recovered and continued speaking.

"Alright. Keep doing whatever it is you think you're doing. Killing you and giving you good advice aren't mutually exclusive. The rocket really is the way to go."

I found the robot balanced on a set of pipes running partway up a wall and portaled up to her.

"That thing you burned up isn't important to me. It's the fluid catalytic cracking unit; it makes shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero."

As soon as I reached her, the robot recovered from her concussion and immediately ran off asking a barrage of questions. "Who are you? What is that? Oh, what's that? What's that? What is that?"

I struggled to catch her, all the while GLaDOS continued talking. "This isn't brave; it's murder. What did I ever do to you? The difference between us is that _I_ can feel pain. You don't even care, do you?"

The robot had made it to the sealed entrance by the time I caught up with her, and she was looking at the red phone on the desk, which had had its receiver cord chewed off. "Ooh, that thing has numbers on it!"

"Did you hear me? I said you don't care. Are you listening?"

I made a grab for her, but she ran off again. "Hey, look at that thing! No, that other thing!" I managed to grab her at that point, at which point she appeared to shrivel in disgust. "Ew, what's wrong with your legs?"

All the while, GLaDOS continued admonishing me. "That's it. I'm done reasoning with you; starting now, there's going to be a lot less conversation and a lot more killing."

I ran back as fast as my crippled body would take me, the robot in tow. "Where are we going?"

"What was that? Did you say something? I sincerely hope you weren't expecting a response because I'm not talking to you; the talking is over."

I released the robot at the foot of the incinerator hatch. "Are you coming back?" My portal placing near the incinerator and the button seemed an identifying minutia. "Oh, hey! You're the lady from the test! Hi!"

I ran through and pushed the button, hearing the robot ask "What's that noise?". I came back through the portals and almost ran into the robot. "Is that a gun?"

I grabbed her behind the shoulders and pushed her to the incinerator. "Where are we going?"

She sniffed the air as we drew close. "Do you smell something burning?" Her thoughts were interrupted as she peered down the burning hole. "Ooh, what's in here?"

A gentle nudge sent her tumbling down, the closing hatch barely missing her ankle.

GLaDOS seemed about to pull Her hair out as She let out a loud scream. "_Gah! You think you're doing some damage?_ Two plus two is..." I laid down portals for another rocket to be fired at the chassis. "...ten." Wait, that can't be - "_in base four; I'm fine!_"

The rocket launcher loaded his weapon and fired after I stepped out of the way. "I let you survive this long because I was curious about your behavior." BOOM! The robot in aqua was blown off. "Well, you've managed to destroy that part of me."

I looked around and saw the robot perched on a platform above the generator hanging from the ceiling. "Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to now, I can't get the neurotoxin into your head any faster."

I flung myself up to the platform, where the robot in aqua was drunkenly mumbling to itself. (I couldn't tell if it was male or female, owing to the shoulder length aqua hair and the absence of neckwear on their person.)

"I just want you to know that you were given every opportunity to succeed. There was even going to be a party for you; a big party to which all your friends were invited."

I had jumped back down to the floor with the robot, who continued his drunken prattling, oblivious to what was happening around her.

"I invited your best friend, the Companion Cube; of course, he couldn't come, because you murdered him."

I stood the robot in front of the incinerator, but the drunken mumbling showed no signs of stopping. I then made my way to the booth.

"All your other friends couldn't come, either. Because you don't have any other friends. It's because of how unlikable you are. It says so right here in your personnel file."

A jolt of pain coursed down my spine as anemia started to take hold, but I continued limping toward the button, pausing to place down portals, my ability to hold out on the recoil growing weaker.

"'Unlikable.' 'Liked by no one.' 'A bitter, unlikable loner whose passing shall not be mourned.' _Shall. Not. Be. Mourned._ That's exactly what it says. Very formal; very official."

I slammed the button and collapsed, my body screaming at me to stop. "It also says you were adopted. So that's funny, too."

I didn't make it this far just so I could quit; I was going to finish this task even if it killed me. "Speaking of curiosity, you're curious about what happens after you die, right?" Like hell, I am. "Guess what? _I_ know." Like hell, you do. "You're going to find out first-hand before I finish explaining it, though, so I won't bother."

I brought my hand down on the button again and raced through the portal to the incinerator, where the aqua robot was still talking to itself.

"Here's a hint: you're going to want to pack as much living as you can into the next couple of minutes."

I pushed the robot down the fiery shaft with my foot, and they went bye-bye.

The neurotoxin had started to sweep around the chassis, enveloping GLaDOS. "Neurotoxin!" She coughed as I prepared the rocket to shoot at Her. "So deadly! I'm choking!" She burst out laughing as a rocket blasted away the teenage boy in red. "I'm kidding! When I said 'deadly' neurotoxin, the 'deadly' was in massive sarcasm quotes."

I looked around and saw the last robot with his leg stuck in a bundle of wires draped between the wall and the generator. "I could take a bath in this stuff, pour it on cereal, rub it right into my eyes... honestly, it's not deadly at all... **to me.**"

I flung myself out of the floor and grabbed hold of him, upon which he started growling wildly and punching out the rest of my blood, sending us both falling to the floor. "You, on the other hand, are going to find its deadliness a lot less funny."

Ironic, isn't it? One bot tries to run around wildly, another tries to beat me to a pulp. I had to portal myself straight to the button and then drag myself to the button with the robot trying to pound me into the ground. "Who's going to make the cake when I'm gone? You?"

I first needed to get myself in a position where I could fire the portal gun, which meant I had to get myself on top of the robot that was beating me up. "Look, you're wasting your time. And believe me; you don't have a lot of time left to waste."

I managed to wrestle myself out of the robot's grip and fire a portal at the wall above the booth. "What's your point, anyway? Survival?"

I was brought back under the robot, but I fired another portal on the floor under us. "Well, then, the last thing you want to do is hurt me; I have your brain scanned and permanently backed up in case something terrible happens to you, which it's just about to."

I managed to snap the robot's neck, stunning him and allowing me to reach the button.

"Don't believe me? Here, I'll put you on." She went wall-eyed for a split second. "_Helloooo!_ That's you! That's how dumb you sound! You've been wrong about every single thing you've ever done, including this thing! You're not smart! You're not a doctor! You're not a scientist! You're not even a full-time employee! Where did your life go so wrong?"

I pushed the button and grabbed the robot by the shoulders in time for the robot to wake up and start pounding me again as I struggled through the portal. "Are you trying to escape?" GLaDOS let off a distorted laugh. "Things have changed since the last you were out of the building; what's going on out there will make you wish you were back in here."

The robot shrieked as he neared the open incinerator and started pounding me harder. "I have an infinite capacity for knowledge, and even _I'm_ not sure what's going on out there."

I forced my foot into his front side, but he kept a kung-fu grip on the portal gun, which popped off my wrist (breaking it in the process) and tumbled to his doom. "All I know is that I'm the only thing standing between us and them."

A burst of energy ruptured the closed incinerator hatch and impaled the generator, which started to break apart.

GLaDOS noticed this before looking at me with a "you little brat" look in Her eyes. "Well, I _was_."

The room started to shake as components fell to the floor. "Unless you have a plan for building a bunch of supercomputer parts in a big hurry, this place isn't going to be safe much longer."

A white light came in from above, drawing matter towards it. "Nice job on that, by the way. [Sarcasm Core self-test complete.]"

Her anger grew higher with Her physical body. "Stop squirming around and die like an adult, or I'm going to delete your backup! **Stop!**" She slammed Her fist into Her laptop, breaking it. "Okay, that's it! I deleted it! No matter what happens now, you're dead!"

I was powerless to avoid being sucked into the light. "You're still shuffling a bit, but believe me, you're dead!"

I watched as GLaDOS's body was ripped limb from limb in the blinding light. "Your whole life has been an error; a mathematical error I'm about to correct...!"

Those were the last words I heard before everything went white.


	22. Chapter C1

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter One

* * *

The first thing I saw once the light faded was the parking lot. I was lying face down on the asphalt, unable to move due to blood loss, with large chunks of metal surrounding me, including GLaDOS's severed head. I could feel the hot pavement stinging my open abdomen, but I was too weak to scream in pain.

I could at the very least hear robotic footsteps behind me, followed by a voice that sounded either British or French.

"Thank you for assuming the Party Escort Submission position."

I felt the robot grab my angles and drag me backwards, I myself unable to resist as everything faded to black.

The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was a distant raspy voice shouting "FREEDOM!"

* * *

_"Chelsea, it's time to get up."_

_I strained to open my eyes as Dad rocked me in bed. "I'm up, Daddy."_

_"We don't want to be late for your first day of school."_

_I quickly sat up in my bed. "Alright."_

_Dad got me dressed in the clothes he picked out for me; a white blouse, orange skirt, white socks, and black shoes. Once I was dressed, I went down to the dining room to get some breakfast._

_Breakfast that morning was a bowl of frosted flakes, while Dad had a simple cup of coffee._

_Once I had eaten breakfast, Dad led me out to the car, and we drove off to school. I was excited about my first day of school and getting to meet new people; I hadn't met anyone other than my dad up to that point._

_The drive to the school was short, and when we got there, there was a large crowd of kids and their parents already waiting. Little girls of ages five, six, and seven were filling the confined lobby with noise, and the lack of visible carpeting was enough to make me claustrophobic, even though I was only comfortable sleeping in confined spaces._

_Dad never let go of my hand, nor did I let go of his._

_The principal showed up after some time and led the kids into the hallways, all of whom were eager to start their first day and meet new people. Their chaperons escorted the kids through the meandering hallways to their classrooms.  
_


	23. Chapter C2

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Two

* * *

_I reached my classroom, where all of the other students were already waiting. There were six colored plastic square tables laid out around the room in a rainbow array, each with four plastic chairs matching the color of the tables they surrounded. The only empty seat left for me was at the blue table, and I was quick to take that seat._

_There were three girls seated at the blue table; a blond girl with long hair, a redhead with pigtails, and a dark-skinned girl with braids. They had been talking energetically when I walked into the room (as were all the other kids in the room), but as soon as I sat down, they all just stared at me like I was a broken doll._

_An awkward silence took hold until the blond girl in the middle whispered to the dark girl, who then whispered back to the blond girl. The redhead got in on the discussion, but they wouldn't let me listen in on what they were saying._

_I decided to walk around the room to see if anyone else would talk to me._

_But before I could get out of my seat, the teacher stepped into the room. All the kids fell silent, and the first of many days of school began.  
_

* * *

_All through kindergarten, all the girls in the classroom would mock me continuously. I got along well with the boys, especially a Venezuelan boy named Pedro. He couldn't speak any English at all, but through my continuous reading of Dad's Spanish books, I was able to understand him and act as his personal translator.  
_

_First grade wasn't much of a picnic, either. That's when I found out why the girls were giving me grief. They told me that Dad wasn't my real dad, and that my real parents had abandoned me at birth and were both dead._

_The story seemed inconceivable to me, even as a seven-year-old. Naturally, I just ignored everything that came my way from the girls, determined not to let their words wreck my performance in school._


	24. Chapter C3

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Three

* * *

I woke up to find myself in complete darkness. The only light I could see was a lit candle mounted in the center of a chocolate covered cake surrounded by cherries in whipped cream. The cake was sitting on a table, beside which I could see a Weighted Companion Cube.

Once the sight had sunken in, I became aware that I was sitting in a chair with small armrests, which I realized must have been a wheelchair. I could feel fabric wrapped tightly around my midriff, as well as a tube inserted in my right wrist.

On top of all that, I was soon aware that I was tethered down to the wheelchair by the seat, seatback, footrests, and armrests. Still weak from my failed escape, there was nothing I could do to get out of the wheelchair.

Suddenly, a dim gray spotlight turned on in the distance, revealing a stage with eight musicians stationed around it slumped forward in their seats.

Two more spotlights, blue and purple, turned on above two of the musicians, who were seated at a piano and a harp respectively.

The other six got spotlights of red, aqua, pink, green, orange, and yellow, each aimed at the musicians armed with a drum set, a clarinet, a trumpet, an electric guitar, a xylophone, and a bass guitar.

They all rose into their playing positions as the gray spotlight faded off, after which a panel in the ceiling opened up and a robotic claw dropped down from the ceiling and snuffed out the flame on the candle on the cake.

The rainbow of spotlights faded to black, only then making me aware by the glowing eyes of the musicians that they were robots.

I didn't have time to think about how they would play music in human fashion as robots before the sound of a film projector coaxed the dead silence from the room. As a film played overhead the musicians, music started to play as the familiar voice started to sing.


	25. Chapter C4

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Four

* * *

As the last note of the song ended, a light turned on above me. The musicians carefully stowed their instruments in their spots and headed off the stage to the table where I was.

Four of the musicians I realized were the four Cores that had been attached to GLaDOS until I had thrown them into the incinerator. The other four completed a rainbow arrangement between them.

The blue Core searched his person before looking around and seeing the green Core holding a knife.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the blue Core beat me to it. "Alright, are you going to cut the cake, Rick?"

"Yep. I got it, Wheaters." The green Core plucked the candle from the cake and made four cuts through the cake, leaving eight wedges of equal shape and size.

The blue Core produced a stack of small plates. "Okay, everyone take a slice, and we'll form a queue to take turns feeding the test subject."

The orange Core looked from me to the cake. "Do you think she'll eat it all?"

The red Core shrugged. "Probably. I mean, she does look in desperate need of food."

The aqua Core took his piece of the cake. "So, what order are we going in?"

The purple Core looked around. "How about I start, then Hannah, Sam, Victor, Wheatley, Andy, Rick, and Walter."

The pink Core spoke up. "According to most advanced algorithms, the world's best name is Craig."

As soon as everyone got their cake slice, the blue Core spoke up. "Alright, Martha, whenever you're ready."

From the color arrangement in the line of robots, I was able to determine the names of each Core. One by one, each Core walked up to me and fed me their piece of cake.

I can't say if I've ever tasted anything more delicious in my entire life. Chocolate, cherries, whipped cream, all bundled together in each bite. At first, I was unable to move my face, so I started out being baby fed. But with each bite, moisture returned to my mouth and my strength began to replenish, allowing me to eat the cake more and more easily.

By the time I had eaten the last piece of cake, all the tubes attached to me had been removed, and bandages were applied in their place.

Wheatley walked by me. "Alright, let's get her to the Extended Relaxation Center."

Martha's voice sounded behind me. "Alright. You have the sedative gas, right?"

I heard Rick walk over. "Yep. I got it." He appeared with a canister in one hand and a mask attached by a hose in the other. "Alright, hold still..." He slid the mask over my face and handed the canister to Martha.

"Alright, let's get going."

I heard a hissing sound, followed by my body going numb starting at the face, and I blacked out to be presented with more flashbacks.


	26. Chapter C5

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Five

* * *

_I stepped into my second-grade classroom, and a group of girls surrounded me._

_"Well, what do we have here?"_

_"If it ain't the girl with no parents."_

_I walked past them and sat down at my desk._

_The girl sitting next to me looked toward me. "Come on, you know it's true."_

_"Sure, it is." I rolled my eyes. "And mice build houses of cheese in people's fridges to make Swiss cheese."_

_"My dad says you were adopted by someone he works with."_

_"Is he a scientist?"_

_"Yeah. He says your mother left you on a doorstep after your dad died."_

_"My dad is still alive."_

_"No, your real dad is dead. Your real mom killed him and abandoned you to hide the fact that she killed him."_

_I just turned away from her._

_"Nobody likes you! Nobody likes you!"_

_The rest of the class joined the chant. I was about to jump up on my desk and kick the girl's teeth out when the teacher walked in._

_Everyone quieted down, and the teacher gave no sign that she noticed anything._

_After taking attendance, the day's lessons started._

* * *

_I seemed to be the only one in the classroom to actually be paying attention to the teacher; all the other girls were whispering and laughing amongst themselves, the boys were distracted by what the girls were doing, and one boy had his head down in his arms as if he were crying.  
_

_"Now, it's important to remember to have the numbers lined up by their first place before you add. Here, you can't have the five over the two; it must be over the three. From here, you add the numbers one place at a time. We start by adding five plus three, which is eight. Now we move to the next place, where we have one plus two, which is three. At this, we have found that 15 plus 23 is 38."_

_I glanced back at the clock. It was almost lunchtime. Several other girls seemed aware of this and were poised to race each other to the cafeteria._

_"16 plus 25 requires a little more work. Because in this column, we have six plus five, which is 11. This result is more than 10, which means we need to move the one out of the way so we can add the next place. We do this by regrouping. To do that, we simply move the one to the top of the next place like so, and then we add all three numbers together. One plus one is two, and two plus two is four. So, now we've figured out that 16 plus 25 is 41."_

_The lunch bell rang, and the girls hightailed it out of there._

_The boys shuffled out at a slower pace, leaving behind only me and the boy, who had finally lifted his head from the desk._

_I followed the crowd to the cafeteria at an even slower pace than the boys._


	27. Chapter C6

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Six

* * *

_I sat down at the table in the corner of the cafeteria. Nobody was letting me sit with them, so I only had the far table to sit at. There was only that loner boy from class sitting at the table when I got there. __I wasn't sure if he'd want my company, so I just stood next to the table with my lunchbox in hand._

_He noticed me standing behind him. "Puedes sentarte conmigo si quieres."_

_I took a seat next to him. "Gracias."_

_"__¿Usted habla Espa__ñol?"_

_I nodded. "S__í. ___¿C_____ómo se llama?__"_

_A smile reached his face as he held out a hand. "Soy Pedro."_

_I repeated his gesture. "Me llamo Chell." Our hands locked and we shook._

_"¿C__ómo est__ás hablando Espa__ñol? Nadia aqu__í habla Espa___ñol._"_

_"Mi pap__á tiene muchos libros que est___án_ escrito en Espa___ñol, y los libros Espa_____ñol eran mis favoritos_._"_

_"Ah. Yo soy de Venezuela, por eso no puedo hablar Ingl__és."_

_"___¿D__ónde est_____á Venezuela?__"_

_"Est___á_ muy, muy lejos."_

_"___¿C__ómo llegaste aqu_____í?__"_

_"Estuve traído aquí para Navidad cuando tenía seis años, y mis padres estuvieron matados en un accidente autobús.__"_

_"Lo siento mucho."_

_"Y estuve tra____ído a un lugar para ni________ños sin padres.____"_

_"Ah. No tengo muchos amigos aqu_____í. Todas las chicas han estado diciendo cosas malas sobre m___________í.______"_

_"____¿C__omo qu______é?__"_

_"Ellas creen que mis padres est____án muertos, y que mi pap________á no es ____________ verdad ____________mi pap____________á.______"_

_"_____¿Por__ qu______é dicen eso?___"_

_"Yo no s_____é. Pero no escucho a las ese mucho.___"_

_"Vale. ______¿Puedo preguntar algo de t_________________í?___________"_

_"_______¿Qu_______________é necesitas?________"_

_"________¿Puede traducir mis tarea a Espa_________________ñol para m________________________________í?_____________________"_

_"Supongo pod______________ía tratar.____________"_

_"Gracias. Muchos gracias."_

_"De nada."_

_The bell rang at that point, indicating that lunch was over._

_"_________¿Quieres caminar conmigo a la clase, Pedro?_______"_

_"Por favor."_

_We headed out of the cafeteria together and followed the rest of the kids to the classroom._


	28. Chapter C7

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Seven

* * *

_I told Dad about everything the girls had said about me on the way home from school that day, as well as my new friend Pedro.  
_

_"They said what?"_

_"The girls said that you're not my real dad and that my real parents are dead."_

_He let off a sigh. "Look, it's going to be hard to explain it to you now, but we'll talk about it when you're older."_

_"You are my dad, aren't you?"_

_He paused a moment before speaking. "Tell you what. If you do well in school, I can show you where I work."_

_"Really?"_

_"You have to promise to get good grades in your classes."_

_"I promise."_

_He decided to change the subject. "So, have you made any friends yet?"_

_"Just a boy from Venezuela."_

_"Yeah? Tell me about him."_

_"His name is Pedro. He lost his parents in a bus accident when he was six, and he can't speak any English at all."_

_"So, how were you able to make friends with him?"_

_"I wasn't able to sit with anyone at lunch today, and when I went to the corner table, I saw him sitting there by himself. When I got there, he said I could sit with him in Spanish, and I sat down and explained that I could speak Spanish, too."_

_"So that's where all those books went."_

_"Yeah, sorry."_

_"Hey, you made good use of them, Chelsea."_

_"Yeah. Anyway, I had agreed to become study buddies with him and help him translate his work."_

_"Do you think you're up to doing that?"_

_"Yeah, I think I can do it."_

_"Okay. Let me know what I need to do to let you do what you need to do."_

_"I will."_

* * *

_It was February 13, 1998 when I finally got the chance to see Dad's workplace. That Friday, the class was having a math test, and I had been helping Pedro get ready for it. Dad had told me last week that if I passed the test, he would take me to his workplace the following day. So, I had a strong reason to do well. And with my help, Pedro had a decent chance of getting a good score as well.  
_

_"__¿Crees que puedes hacerlo, Pedro?"_

_"Yo s__é que puedo hacerlo, Chell."_

_"Bueno."_

_The test went by fairly well. The girls were talking between each other behind the teacher's back, and the boys couldn't concentrate because of that. Pedro couldn't understand what they were saying, and so was able to focus on his test. I was determined to pass the test so that I could see my dad's workplace._

_Needless to say, Pedro and I were the only ones who passed._

_But in spite of the results, the teacher blamed me for distracting the rest of the class and sent me to the principal's office._

_Pedro was sent with me for trying to defend me because the teacher thought he said something inappropriate._

* * *

_"So..." Mr. Brunswick sat up at his desk, "what brings the two of you to my office today?"  
_

_I knew I was going to have to do all of the talking for both of us. "The teacher said that I was distracting the class from taking a math test today."_

_"Were you?"_

_"No, I wasn't. Pedro and I were the only ones focused on taking the test. The other girls were talking to each other, and the other boys couldn't focus because of that."_

_"Do you know what they were talking about?"_

_"I was focused on the test, so I don't know. Pedro doesn't speak English, so he doesn't know either."_

_"So, why is Pedro here with you?"_

_"He tried to tell the teacher that I had nothing to do with the rest of the class not passing the test, but the teacher thought he said something bad."_

_"What did he say?"_

_"What he said was '__¡Ella no hizo nada!', which means 'She didn't do anything!'. The teacher then told me to tell Pedro to come with me here."_

_Mr. Brunswick stroked his chin. "I'm going to call her and see what's going on." He picked up the phone and called the teacher._

_As he did so, Pedro leaned toward me. "¿Qué hacemos ahora?"_

_"Yo creo que debemos esperar hasta él está terminado hablando al telefono."_

_"Vale."_

_Mr. Brunswick got through to the teacher. "Yes, Mrs. Berkeley? I'm here with Pedro Maneja and Chelsea... uh, do you have a last name for her? ... No? Hm. Anyway, I'm calling to get an understanding of why these two are here. ... Mm-hm. ... Mm-hm. ... Where did you get this information?" He started writing on a piece of paper. "Okay. For the time being, I see no reason for these two to receive any disciplinary action, so I'll send them back to class. ... But I would like to speak to the rest of the girls before the end of the day." He turned to us with the phone away from his face. "You two can head back to class now."_

_I turned to Pedro. "Podemos volver a la clase ahora."_

_With that, we left the office and headed back to the classroom._


	29. Chapter C8

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Eight

* * *

_It was a huge relief to pull up to the security gate of Dad's workplace that morning. The security guard was nice, and he offered me a lollipop. Dad said I could have it as long as I saved it for when we headed back home._

_The parking lot was surrounded by grass in almost all directions. The only other man-made structure within view was a small metal shed. Dad led me out of the car and to the shed before knocking on the door._

_A few seconds passed, and the door opened to reveal what looked like an elevator. Dad took my hand and brought me inside. He pressed a button, and the door closed, after which the elevator went straight down super-fast._

_Then, as quickly as it began, the ride stopped and the door opened. A digitalized fanfare played, and we heard a male voice on a loudspeaker._

_"Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. Please report to the reception desk to sign-in so you can receive directions to your designated station."_

_As we walked to the reception desk, another scientist came down the hallway._

_"Hey, Doug. I see you've brought your little girl with you today."_

_"Yeah, I thought it would be good to get her out of the house for a while."_

_"I see."_

_"Do you think you could keep an eye on her for a moment? I have a few things to take care of right now." Dad pulled out something in a wrapper and headed down the hallway._

_"Yeah, we can do that." The other scientist put a hand behind my back._

_As Dad turned to walk away, a third scientist came down the hall. "I just finished installing the cameras."_

_"Excellent."_

_The man smiled as he continued. "And we found a way to make sure that they're tamper-proof."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"We put cameras _in_ the cameras."_

_The man's eyes lit up. "Genius!"_

_He was met with an enthusiastic nod. "He'll never suspect."_

_Dad had left by that time, and the third scientist returned to where he had come from. The remaining scientist directed his attention back to me. "So, have you been told about what we do here at Aperture?"_

_I shook my head._

_"Well, if you'll just follow me, I can show you."_

* * *

_The scientists had explained that Aperture was a science research facility founded in 1947 by shower curtain salesman Cave Johnson. They had invented numerous things which they tested in various chambers. Browsing through the catalog of Aperture inventions intrigued me._

_Thinking about all the verbal torment I was taking from my peers, I had asked if I would be able to be a test subject for Aperture. The scientists seemed enlightened by the idea, but when I was given a questionnaire, they turned me down because of "extreme tenacity". There were some questions that I had refused to answer because I felt the answer should've been obvious._

_They had said that my stubborn persistence was too great to reflect accurate reactions to challenges from real people. Despite my rejection for testing, there were a few who believed that I could at least get through the test chambers because of my tenacity; so they still made a file for me and kept it on record._

_With nothing else to do, I started exploring the place._


	30. Chapter C9

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Nine

* * *

_There was a closet with tools, oxygen canisters, and face masks. In the tool chest, I found a nut-driver and a small crowbar. I removed the grate from an air duct, put on an oxygen mask to avoid breathing dust, and started crawling through the air ducts with the crowbar in hand._

_I found Dad in a large room with a big lifeless robot hanging from the ceiling. He was talking to another scientist in the room._

_"It's been a hell of a morning. You missed all the fun. We had to hit the kill switch again."_

_Dad walked onto the platform under the robot body, which he looked up to. "Henry, you have a strange idea of fun."_

_"Hey, we're lucky to be working on this."_

_"You've got a strange idea of luck, too."_

_"Think about it. Every generation gets some new frontier to tackle; Einstein got relativity, the NASA cowboys got the Moon, all the easy stuff is taken. I mean, take a look around you; we're on the bleeding edge here. Artificial consciousness is the next frontier."_

_"But every time we turn it on, it takes one sixteenth of a picosecond before it tries to kill us."_

_"Last time was a tenth of a picosecond. See, we're making process. I'm telling you, this is our generation's moon shot."_

_I pressed my mask over my face as hard as I could and yelled in as deep a voice as I could, "Cave Johnson here. You lab boys quit your yapping and get back to work. This has been a pre-recorded message."_

_Laughing as quietly as I could, I started crawling away. The last thing I heard from the room was Dad saying "I'd rather have gone to the Moon."_

* * *

_I continued exploring the air ducts for several hours, familiarizing myself with the intricacies of the facility. I found all of the restrooms, the cafeterias, the libraries, the computer labs, the maintenance rooms, and the test chambers._

_I eventually found my way to an office and fell through a loose grate. I landed in the plastic trash can beside the desk, which broke apart when I landed in it. The trash cushioned my fall, so I wasn't badly hurt._

_I removed the oxygen mask and crawled to the door. Then, I heard the door handle click, which I recognized to mean that the door was locked and someone was trying to open the door._

_"Ugh! Again?" I heard a voice sigh. "I guess I'll need to find the janitor again."_

_I reached up and grabbed the door handle to open it. The door opened, and on the other side was a scientist who appeared shocked and confused._

_"What's the meaning of this? Who are you? How did you get in here?"_

_I stepped past him and took off down the hall trying to find my way back to the lobby._

* * *

_It took about seven minutes to find my way back to the lobby. When I got there, a number of other scientists were talking amongst one another. One of them noticed me walking up to them._

_"Oh, there you are! We've been looking everywhere for you."_

_"Let's go take her back to where she's supposed to be."_

_I saw Dad come by and come toward me. "Where have you been?"_

_Just then, the scientist I had seen earlier came in. He was exhausted and somewhat annoyed._

_"I saw this girl in my office. The air duct cover had broken off, and the trash can was smashed."_

_Dad heaved a long sigh. "I think you should apologize to this man."_

_He turned me to look at him, but I couldn't muster anything to say. There was nothing in my mind to suggest I did anything wrong._

_After a moment, Dad decided not to wait for me to speak. "I'll just keep her in my office to make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble."_

_"Yes, please. Do that."_


	31. Chapter C10

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Ten

* * *

_It was so boring to just sit in Dad's office and not be allowed to do anything fun. There were a lot of strange things that Dad was building, and he made it clear that I was not allowed to touch any of it under any circumstances._

_After a while, I saw the same scientist I saw Dad talking to earlier come into the room. He was wheeling a stand-up cart in front of him carrying what looked like a woman but wasn't moving at all._

_She had short purple hair and white skin. She had on a lab coat with a large medallion in the middle, purple shirt, and white neckerchief, as well as a purple skirt and black high heels._

_"Hey, Doug. Can I get a hand here?"_

_Dad turned around to look at him. "Uh, sure."_

_The other scientist reached over the woman's face and opened it like a lid, revealing a hollow space surrounded by a bunch of robot parts. "Just reach inside past all those gears and turn on the power supply."_

_Dad started to reach into the head through where the face had been, but was interrupted._

_"Wait a sec. Safety first. Are you right-handed or left?"_

_Dad retracted his hand as a suspicious eyebrow rose. "Right."_

_"Better use your left, then."_

_Dad reached in with his other hand. "Why?"_

_"Just in case."_

_I heard a click, and once Dad had withdrawn his hand from the cavity, the scientist put the face back where it belonged. She opened her eyes, which glowed purple, and hopped down from the cart, standing beside the scientist._

_Dad seemed intrigued. "What is that thing, anyway?"_

_The robot answered him. "Just the latest in AI inhibition technology."_

_The scientist nodded. "You can think of it as a conscience."_

_A look of skepticism spread across Dad's face. "If that's all you use to control Her, it won't be enough."_

_Both the robot and the scientist responded. "Why's that?"_

_"You can always ignore your conscience."_

_The scientist scoffed and escorted the robot out of the room._

_The scene I had witnessed made me curious. "Who was that?"_

_"Who, the scientist?"_

_"And the robot."_

_"The robot is part of a project that Aperture is working on. We're trying to create robots that look and act like people."_

_"Wow. That is so cool."_

_"Well, the other scientists are wanting to have the entire facility run by a robotic supercomputer."_

_"You say it like it's a bad thing."_

_"It is a bad thing; the robot keeps trying to kill everyone every time it's turned on."_

_"And that robot you just turned on was one of the ways to prevent that?"_

_"It was the other scientist's idea to create the other robots. The first robot was the former assistant to the company's founder. He got sick from breathing moon dust and tried to put himself into a robot body; however, the project wasn't completed before his death, so per his last request, his assistant was forced into the robot body._  
_"It became clear that She wanted everyone dead out of revenge for becoming a robot, and the scientists came up with different attempts to stop Her from doing so. The scientist we just saw came up with the idea of making more robots, which would then be attached to the mainframe to administer different thoughts._  
_"The first such robot created was derived from a British construction engineer who had been working on a research vessel that teleported itself to an unknown location. He was tried out as an attempt to reduce the mainframe IQ, but that didn't work, so he was put in charge of test chamber construction, and later monitoring relaxation chambers. I heard that he also started spending time in one of the factories here."_

_"I sure would like to meet him."_

_"Someday, but not today."_


	32. Chapter C11

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Eleven

* * *

_Dad went over to his computer and started working on it. I walked over to him to see what he was doing._

_"So, Chelsea, I see you've been entered into Aperture's Test Subject Database."_

_My file was displayed prominently on the monitor._

_"Has anyone told you about the tests performed here?"_

_I nodded. "The guys that told me about this place told me about the tests here."_

_"So, you knew what you were getting yourself into by joining Aperture as a test subject?"_

_I nodded. "They wouldn't let me be a test subject because of my extreme tenacity, whatever that is."_

_"Well, I'm glad for that. Anyway, I wanted to show you something here." He started moving things around on his monitor. "Do you remember what I told you earlier?"_

_"About all the robots being made here?"_

_"Yeah. As I explained, the first robot made by Aperture was part of a project called the Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System, which was an attempt by the company founder, Mr. Cave Johnson, to avoid dying from moon dust poisoning. He didn't make it, and from what we had gathered, what did him in was a fall from the bed that caused him to bleed to death from the inside. The fall may have had something to do with some patty cake between him and his assistant, Caroline."_

_I was confused by what he meant, but he didn't give me the chance to ask for clarification._

_"Anyway, Caroline went missing for an entire year after his death, after which I, along with a British construction engineer, Mr. Wheatley Pendleton, found a baby girl at my office door. I ran a few tests and found that the girl's parents were Cave Johnson and Caroline, and that's how I found out who had killed Mr. Johnson. I found Caroline shortly after completing the tests, and she admitted to her involvement in Mr. Johnson's death. When I spread the news, she was rounded up and made into a robot."_

_"When did all of those things happen?"_

_"Mr. Johnson died 10 years ago, and Caroline became a robot a year later."_

_"How old was the girl when you found her?"_

_"I found out from a doctor who'd been with Caroline during her absence, Dr. Craig Rupert, that she was born on January 17, 1989."_

_My birthday was January 17, and I had turned 9 years old a month ago. "What was the girl's name?"_

_"I had asked Caroline that, and after some pressuring, I managed to get a name Chelsea. Nobody knew Caroline's last name, so I didn't know what last name she should have."_

_"What did you do with Chelsea after Caroline named her?"_

_He said nothing, and he proceeded to throw his open hand against his eyes._


	33. Chapter C12

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Twelve

* * *

_At school on Monday, I saw Heather talking with her friends and tried to listen in on what they were talking about._

_"Did you hear about what Chelsea did last weekend?"_

_"Yeah, her caretaker took her to our dads' workplace on Saturday. My dad's office was wrecked when she fell out of the air conditioning vent."_

_"What could she have been doing in there?"_

_"I bet she was looking for her real parents; after all, her real dad founded the place, and her real mom was his assistant."_

_"Well, her real mom was made into a robot because she killed her boss (which ended up leading to Chelsea's birth). The plan is to have her be put in charge of testing at the workplace, but they're currently experimenting on how to stop her from trying to kill everyone."_

_"So that accounts for her real mom. But she'll have to believe in ghosts if she thinks she can find her real dad."_

_"Even Andy would think that to be a bizarre notion."_

_"Yeah. Speaking of which, where is Andy?"_

_The conversation was interrupted by the teacher standing up. "Class, may I have your attention, please?"_

_The room fell silent._

_"I'd like to at this time make an announcement. It has come to my attention that Aperture Laboratories will be hosting a field trip for May 16."_

_Several girls looked to each other with a glimmer of excitement._

_"The field trip will be a Bring Your Daughter to Work Day event, and all students partaking in it will need to fill out these permission slips by March."_

_I joined six other girls (among them Heather) rushing to get a permission slip._

_"There will be a science fair for that trip; so once you have submitted your permission slips, you will have until May to have a project completed for the science fair. Remember: you must have passing grades the day of the event in order to go."_

_As I returned to my seat, the six other girls who picked up permission slips surrounded me. I knew what was coming._

_"So, you're going with us to Aperture for Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, huh?"_

_"Of course I am, Heather."_

_"You do realize your father is dead, and you therefore can't join, right?"_

_"Come on, Beth. You were raised better than that."_

_"Well, I was raised better than you; I have parents, unlike you."_

_"I know just as well as you do that that's not true, Lauren."_

_"No, we know what we're talking about. You, on the other hand, don't."_

_"Yes, I do, Jessica."_

_"Our dads told us everything we're telling you, and they say it's true."_

_"My dad didn't say anything about it, Alix."_

_"That's because he's dead. And so is your mom."_

_"My dad is not dead, Kathleen!"_

_"Your caretaker is still alive, yes. But you were left on his doorstep by your birthmother. Your birthfather's death was the reason you were born, and your mom had to leave you behind so she wouldn't get in trouble. She was found out, and when asked about your name by your caretaker, she chose it at random."_

_"Actually, Heather, my dad says her caretaker asked her mom for a name, and he misheard a single syllable in her response of refusal to name her daughter."_

_"Thank you, Alix. Anyway, she was forced into becoming a robot as punishment, and once she's perfected, she'll be under the command of the scientists as long as Aperture exists. Just accept the truth, and you'll be fine."_

_I just sat there, my lip tightening against my gums, and finally I stood up and ran out of the classroom._


	34. Chapter C13

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Thirteen

* * *

_I met Pedro at lunch later that day. As usual, we sat in the far corner away from everyone else and ate our lunches together. All the while, I provided translation assistance on Pedro's work._

_"__Oy__é, Pedro."_

_"Oy__é, Chell."_

_"__¿C__ómo has estado?"_

_"Por fin pude sacar el sabor de la salsa caliente de mi boca."_

_"Ah, s___í, ese perro enano casero que yo di a t_____í para Navidad y las chicas se pusieron una bomba con salsa caliente en la nap_______íz.___"_

_"S___í. No puedo creer que alguien_____ har_______ía_ algo como eso.__"_

_"Yo s___é_, ____¿__verdad?"_

_"___¿Y t____ú?_"_

_"He estado bueno, tambien."_

_"___¿Hiciste alguna cosa divertido la ______última fin de semana?___"_

_"S__í, yo fui al trabajo de mi pap__á a Sabado."_

_"____¿S_______í? ___________¿D_______________ónde ________________él trabaja?_______"_

_"Es un lugar se llama Ciencia Abertura."_

_"Yo creo que la maestra m____úsica a mi ______orfanato dice que ella conoce alguien all__________í.______"_

_"_____¿S_______í? ___________¿Ella dijo quien?_______"_

_"Ella dijo que su esposo trabaja all________í_______________._______"_

_"Ah. Entonces, ___¿_hiciste alguna cosa divertido la ______última fin de semana?____"_

_"Otro que buscando la ___maestra m____úsica a mi ______orfanato, no.___"_

_"¿A qué te refieres?"_

_"Nadie al orfanato pod_________ía encontrarla _________________en alguna parte_._______"_

_"Las chicas en la clase estaban preguntando sobre alguien ___más se llama Andre; no sab__________ían donde ________________él estuvo hoy__________._"_

_"La maestra ____m____úsica ten__________________ía un hijo se llama Andre. ___________________________¿Fue su nombre _________________________________último Rattmann o algo? ____________________________________________________¿Sabes?________________________________"_

_"Yo creo que s_______í._____"_

_"Esto es demasiado raro."_

_"Yo s__________é. Primero el hermano y pap____________________á__ de Catalina, entonces la hermana de Lorena, y ahora que parece ser una madre y hijo.__________"_

_"___________________________________¿Qu_____________________________________________________________________é pod______________________________________________________________________________ía estar occuriendo?__________________________________________"_

_"Tengo no idea para nada." That's when something occurred to me. "____________________________________¿Has nunca visto la _______________________________________________________________________maestra ____m____úsica a tu orfanato?_______________________________________"  
_

_"Un pocos veces. ___Ella mide un metro cincuenta y cinco, tiene pelo negro corto, siempre lleva morado y blanco, y lleva zapados negros de tacones._"_

_The information was limited, as I expected, but it was enough to make a definitive comparison between Pedro's music teacher and the robot I watched Dad switch on on Saturday. "Yo creo que yo ___s__________é que ha estado occuriendo._________"_

_"____________________________________¿Qu_____________________________________________________________________é?___________________________________"_

_"Todos los gentes _____ausente_____s son robots.__"_

_"_____________________________________¿C_________________________________________________________________________ómo?____________________________________"_

_"Cuando fui a Ciencia Abertura con Pap____á, yo vi lo encender un robot que se ______parece a la maestra m______________________________________________úsica de que dijiste me. Pap_________________________________________________________________________________________á explic_____________________________________________________________________________________________ó a m_____________________________________________________________________________________________________í que hab___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________í_______an otros gentes quien estuvieron hechos en robots._____________________________________________________"_

_"______________________________________¿Él dijo quien?____________________________________"_

_"La secretaria del fundador de Ciencia Abertura, un __ingeniero __ construcción Británico, y muchos otros."_

_"__¡Ay mi vaya________________________________________________________!______________________________________________________"_

_"'Ay mi vaya' es verdad." I let off a short breath. "Yo iba a ir al D________________________________________________________í______________________________________________________a de Traer Tu Hija a Trabajo en Mayo."_

_"Suena divertido."_

_"S________________________________________________________í. No puedo esperar.______________________________________________________"_

_"Ten suerte, Chell."_

_"Gracias."_

_"De nada."_


	35. Chapter C14

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Fourteen

* * *

_"I did not hit her!" I ran out of the school crying. "It's not true! It's not! I did not hit her!" I threw my water bottle on the sidewalk. "I DID NOT!" I started running toward the street, but I ran into someone. "Oh hi, Dad."_

_Dad knelt down in front of me. "What happened?"_

_I went over to pick up the water bottle I threw. "The girls got Pedro thrown out of school."_

_"You mean the orphan boy from Venezuela?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"What happened? Did you hit someone?"_

_"No, but Heather said I did. As Pedro and I were heading back to class from lunch, the girls stopped us in the halls and started saying things about me hanging out with Pedro because he was an orphan like me. He didn't understand what they were saying, but he knew they were bullying me and tried to fight them off. Punches were thrown, Heather lost some teeth, and when the teachers broke up the fight, Heather blamed the fight on me. Pedro and I were taken to the principal's office, and he decided that Pedro should be moved to another school."_

_"Is that where you got the water from?"_

_"The principal? Yeah." I took off the lid and took a drink._

_"Did he get you in trouble for hitting Heather?"_

_"No, the teacher did. I ran into her on the way out, and she yelled at me for hitting Heather."_

_"Hm."_

_"Anyway, I have a permission slip for Bring Your Daughter to Work Day in May."_

_"Are you sure you want to go? Because the other girls will also be there."_

_"Yeah, I'm sure."_

_"If you say so." And with that, Dad escorted me to the car and we headed home._

* * *

_While Dad filled out the permission slip, I went up to my room to do my homework. I was furious about losing Pedro, but I refused to back down from my goals. As the big day drew closer, I found myself angrier and angrier at the girls for taking Pedro out of my life. Thinking about everything I had witnessed at Aperture Science the previous weekend, I formulated a plan for revenge.  
_

_I expected the girls to all do baking soda volcanoes as their projects, but oddly enough, only Heather made one; all the others did potato batteries. This information prompted me to make a project that would surprise everyone at the science fair. It would seem like another potato battery experiment, but it would be far more extraordinary than anyone could imagine._

_The outcome, if I got first place, could go one of two ways; either the girls would start to pay me the respect I knew I deserved, or they would continue bullying me out of jealousy. Only fate would dictate which._

_If I couldn't get the girls to change their ways after the science fair, I would put my plan for revenge into action._


	36. Chapter C15

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Fifteen

* * *

_The big day had finally arrived. Aperture Science's first ever Bring Your Daughter to Work Day was about to start. The seven girls that would be taking part, myself included, waited in front of the school for the bus to arrive._

_I was calm and collected, confident that I would win. The girls had taunted me continuously during the days that we spent putting our projects together. I had signed my project "by Chell" rather than "by Chelsea" as a subtle hint that I had a revenge plot in store for the girls for bullying me and throwing Pedro out of my life.  
_

_The bus arrived, and we all boarded, ready to show off at the science fair. I expected one of the girls to ruin my project during the bus ride, and some of them were tempted to do so, but Heather told them to leave it alone, saying that she wanted to watch me lose at the fair._

_In my mind, that was a big mistake on her part._

_The bus pulled through the gate and into the parking lot. The girls stuck their faces to the windows looking outside. The bus slowed to a stop, and the driver opened the door._

_We all grabbed our projects and stepped out onto the surface of pebbles and tar that made up the parking lot. Having visited the place before, I was the only one that didn't look around in confusion._

_Six men in lab coats came down a dirt road coming through a large grassy field. "Right this way, girls." Each of them approached their respective daughter and escorted them through the fields to the entrance to Aperture Science._

_Heather's dad I recognized as the scientist with the robot that Dad had turned on. Having reason to believe that the robot in question was Andy's mother, that was the closest I got to showing emotion at the gates of Aperture.  
_

* * *

_When we arrived at the shed where the elevator was, one scientist stood in front of the door. "Now, I need everyone to listen to me as closely as possible. Is everyone listening?"_

_All seven of us gave the same answer. "Yes."_

_"Alright. While you are inside the building, you must stay with your chaperone at all times. Do not go wandering around by yourself; you will get lost. There is no horse playing at any time for any reason; that includes belittling your peers. There is no eating, drinking, or gum chewing outside of the cafeteria wing, where we will be going at 12:00 PM before the science fair. The time is now 8:47 AM, so your chaperones will have three hours to show you what they wish about what they do here. Failure to obey any of these rules will be grounds for removal from the Bring Your Daughter to Work Day event. Is that understood?"_

_Again, there was a unanimous answer. "Yes."_

_He knocked on the door and regrouped with the rest of us. The sound of the elevator rising to meet us rattled the shed for ten seconds, and then the door opened. The girls all had difficulty containing their excitement.  
_

_"One at a time, girls. One at a time."_


	37. Chapter C16

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Sixteen

* * *

_This wasn't the first time I'd been at Aperture, so I had already seen what Dad did at Aperture. Because of that, there wasn't really anything for me to do except go over my science fair project to make sure I had what I needed._

_I did notice that Dad was pacing around his office, and he seemed to have some really big thoughts on his mind that were giving him quite some trouble._

_"I can't wait to start this science fair."_

_"I can tell, Chelsea."_

_"You okay, Dad?"_

_He gave a small sigh. "The boys are planning to start up the big project today, and I've been trying to get them to shut it down."_

_"Is it going to be part of Bring Your Daughter to Work Day?"_

_"That's their plan. The thing is that the big project is more dangerous now than ever."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"The scientists have provided the project with a chemical that will surely wipe out the entire complex."_

_"You can just turn it off if things start going wrong, right?"_

_"Yeah, but the shutdown procedure is long and complicated, and it's easy for the shutdown not to work."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Someone has to sit in the chamber next to a red phone and call the control operator to turn the project on or off. There has to be total isolation before the startup or shutdown can be started, which means startup or shutdown takes at least ten seconds to carry out."_

_"Okay."_

_"And I can't let the big project start up with little girls present."_

_The PA system came on. "All Aperture Science personnel, please report to the cafeteria wing at this time. Lunch today is crab and chips."_

_Dad waved me to follow him out the door. "Time for lunch."_


	38. Chapter C17

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Seventeen

* * *

_I had quite a meal for a third grader at lunch. By the end of it all, I was having difficulty getting out of my seat. I had no idea that crab could taste so good, and that I wouldn't be able to control myself with how much of it I ate.  
_

_The girls were having fun with their dads, but mine was busy talking to another scientist, leaving me with nothing to do except listen to them talk and finger the vial of growth accelerator snuck from Dad's office and hidden in my pocket._

_"I'm telling you, there's nothing that'll get this project to work."_

_"We've already told you there's nothing to worry about, Doug."_

_"What's not to worry about when the building starts to flood with neurotoxin every time it gets turned on? And that there's a planned start-up after the science fair while the girls are still here?"_

_"We have it under control; we've added new hardware to make sure it operates the way it should."_

_"You've said that the last 27 times, and every time, it doesn't work."_

_"Not this time; this time, we know it's going to work."_

_"Again, that's what you said the last 27 times."_

_"And that's why we have the Red Phone, so we can call the start-up station to shut it down if things do go wrong."_

_"You can't rely on the Red Phone forever. And now that I think about it, why isn't the start-up station located in the chamber itself?"_

_"Why are you asking me? I didn't write up the blueprints or design the facility layout."_

_The PA system came online to address the people in the cafeteria. "Attention: this is a reminder that the Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day Science Fair will start in 30 minutes. All personnel and visitors partaking in the event are advised to start heading down so as to prepare for the science fair. Thank you."_

_All the girls finished their meals and headed to the lobby where the science fair stations were waiting._

* * *

_The science fair was unremarkable. As I explained, all the girls did potato batteries for their projects, except Heather, who made a baking soda volcano, so there really wasn't anything special about anyone's projects.  
_

_Except mine._

_I used the growth accelerator formula on my potato battery, and it was the only thing that proved eventful at the science fair._

_Unfortunately, it also punched a hole in the ceiling with its rapid growth._

_The scientists chased me down the hall seeking retribution for the damage I had caused._

_I lost them by locking myself in a broom closet and then making my way into an air duct before they could unlock it._

_I found my way to the Central Core chamber, where I chewed out the receiver cord on the Red Phone to cut off communications to the control room.  
_

_Then I slipped to the control room, where I found the objective of my revenge plot against the girls._

_They wouldn't let up on their stories that my parents were dead and that I was adopted. They convinced my teachers to have me subjected to the fall for their actions and defended their stories about me. They made fun of my friendship with Pedro. __They ripped my only friend out of my life. _

_I was fed up with the world, not wanting to go on in a world where everyone went out of the way to make me miserable, and those girls had to pay for what they did to me._

_I hit the startup button, knowing that the big project would lock the place up and wipe out the place. And with me locking the control room before leaving, there would be no way to turn it off._

_The plan worked like a charm. Neurotoxin billowing into the corridors ushered all of us to the stasis chambers, any attempt at resistance proving itself to equal instant death._

_There was just enough time to seal ourselves in the stasis pods before neurotoxin filled the building to capacity._


	39. Chapter C18

**Chell's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Eighteen

* * *

The sound of an electronic fanfare interrupted my sleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes to behold the inside of a cheap motel room. As I tossed aside the covers on my bed and swung my legs over the bedside, a calm masculine voice spoke from all around me.

"Good morning! You have been in suspension for fifty days. In compliance with state and federal regulations, all testing candidates in the Aperture Science Extended Relaxation Center must be revived periodically for a mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise."

I was standing between the bed and a wardrobe, and was about to start looking at my surroundings when the voice spoke up again.

"You will hear a buzzer. When you hear the buzzer, look up at the ceiling."

A buzzer sounded, and I looked up at the ceiling. It was a ceiling of fiberglass foam tiles with a large black rail running from the room's entrance to the middle of the room.

"Good. You will hear a buzzer. When you hear the buzzer, look down at the floor."

The buzzer sounded again, and I looked down at the floor. It was a soft green carpet with flower decals sewn into it. My bare toes fanned out to take in the soft carpet under them.

"Good. This completes the gymnastic portion of your mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise."

Gee whiz. This helps a lot.

"There's a framed painting on the wall; please go stand in front of it."

I turned to see the painting on the other side of the bed from me. I walked around the bed, a warm feeling coming through my bare feet as I walked, to the picture and stood in front of it. In the picture was a lake at the base of a mountain surrounded by trees and a log cabin.

"This is art. You will hear a buzzer. When you hear the buzzer, stare at the art."

The buzzer sounded a third time, and I could hear a timer ticking in the background as I stared at the painting, taking in all the little details of the work.

"You should now feel mentally reinvigorated. If you suspect staring at art has not provided the required intellectual sustenance, reflect briefly on this classical music."

There was the sound of a harpsichord and violin being played, which was then interrupted by the buzzer.

"Good. Now, please return to your bed."

I leaped back under the covers and fell back asleep.


	40. Chapter D1a

**Chell's Story: Part D  
**Episode I, Chapter One

* * *

_Episode I: The Courtesy Call_

I was aroused from my slumber for what had to be the thousandth time, but this time, everything was in shambles. The walls were peeling, the furniture had fallen apart, and the smell of algae was thick in the air. The wake-up chime was severely distorted, and the voice from the loudspeaker sounded drunk as he spoke.

"¡Buenos días! Usted ha estado en suspensión para nueve - nueve - nueve - nueve - nueve..." the sound of a record scratching pierced the air before the message continued. "Esta llama de cortesía es informarlo que todos sujetos de prueba deben salir el Centro de Enriquecimiento immediatamente. Cualquier sujetos de prueba no emergiendo de suspensión a este tiempo estarán suponido haber ejercido su derecho quedarse en Descanso Aumentado para la duración de la destrucción de este edificio. Si usted tiene preguntas o preocupaciones sobre este norma, o si usted requere una versión de Inglés idioma de este mensaje, sienta libro tomar un pedazo de papel de cortesía del cajón escritorio en frente de lo y escriba una carta a nos. Tiena suerte."

Being bilingual in Spanish and English, I had no difficulty understanding what was being said.

But no sooner had the announcement ended, a furious banging sounded from the door to the room.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" There was more knocking. "Hello? Are you... going to open the door? A-Any time?"

The voice sounded male, and I was inclined to believe that there was a British accent to it. Unsure of why I had a feeling that that was an important detail, I walked over to the door, losing my footing and falling against the door, grabbing the handle as I went down.

The door started to open, and the voice chirped enthusiastically "Ha! I knew someone was alive in here!"

I regained my footing and pulled the door open the rest of the way, being smacked in the face by a jumpsuit as a scream sounded from the other side.

Recovering from the graze to my face, I could see where the voice was coming from: a tall man in a white suit and tie with a white fedora. He looked to be struggling to carry several items, one of which was an orange jumpsuit, and he had his face turned away and his arm in front of it.

He started to turn around to face me. "Oh, God! You look te - " his eyes eased open, shining intense blue light on me, and as soon as he saw me, he hastily regained his composure, "erm... ahem... er, good. Looking good, actually."

He started laughing nervously as he slipped into the room, slamming the door shut with his foot and holding out his arm which had the jumpsuit draped over it. I took it off his person, and started putting it on as he made his way into the room, talking all the way.

"Are you... okay? I mean, are you..." I opened my mouth to answer, "er, don't... answer that; I'm absolutely sure you're fine. There's plenty of time for you to recover; erm, just take it slow."

He set down a large pair of boots on the bed in time for the voice to announce "Please prepare for emergency evacuation!"

I had gotten the jumpsuit over my legs at that point, and I thought I wouldn't have time to put it on the rest of my body, so I just tied the sleeves around my waist.

I followed the man to the wardrobe as his already fast speech increased in pace. "Okay, stay calm! Stay - Stay - Stay calm! 'Prepare'. That's all he's saying, 'prepare'; it's all fine." He opened the wardrobe and went in, holding me back from entering. "Alright, don't move; I'm gonna get us out of here."

He closed the door behind him, pausing only to tell me "Oh, erm... you... might want to hang onto something. Word of advice; up to you."

I was a little confused as to why I'd need to hold onto something, but before I could ask him through the door why I'd need to hold onto something, the room started to shake. The desk on the opposite wall buckled, the pieces knocking me back onto the bed where the boots were.

"Are you alright back there? Can you hear me? ... Hello?"

I was trying to catch my breath from the sudden shock and was unable to answer him.

The wardrobe door opened up, and the man stepped out. He picked up the boots from the bed and put them on my feet. As he did so, I took a good look at the man.

He was fairly tall, maybe six feet, and had a slim build to him. He was wearing a shiny metallic lab coat over a blue collar shirt and white tie. A name plate on the coat bore the name Wheatley handwritten with a black grease pencil. In the very middle of his chest where the top coat button would be, there was a large blue light about the size of his hand. His pants were blue, and shiny like his lab coat. His shoes were black and shiny. Even his white skin seemed to shine, as did his long blue hair. The only thing that didn't shine was his blue fedora band. He was wearing glasses with round frames, which did nothing to dampen the glow from his blue eyes. Actually, his irises were white; the rest of his eyes were blue.

And he had been talking the entire time he was getting the boots on my feet.

When he was undoing the three sets of suitcase buckles on one boot. "Most test subjects do experience some... erm, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension." As he opened it up like a hotdog bun and fastened it over my foot. "Now, you've been under... for quite a lot longer,... and it's not out of the question that... you might have a very minor case of... serious brain damage." As he unbuckled the other boot and put it on my other foot. "But don't be alarmed, alright? Er, although if you do... erm, feel alarmed, try to hold onto that feeling. Because... that is the, erm, proper reaction to - to being told that - that you've got brain damage." As he finished fastening the buckles and stepped back to let me stand. "D-Do you understand... what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this... make any sense? Just tell me. Just say yes."

I was too preoccupied with looking at the boots that Wheatley had put on me. They were extremely comfortable, which I found a little disturbing, but I was more focused on the springs attached to the back of the boots. They looked like the ankle braces I'd worn during my time testing, and they appeared to be serving the same function here. A quick jump confirmed that they did.

Only then did I realize that Wheatley had stopped talking.

Because he started talking again.

"Okay. Er, what you're doing there is jumping. Er, you just... you just jumped." He reached into his shirt pocket under his lab coat. "But, never mind. Say 'apple'." He took one out of his shirt pocket and showed it to me. "'Apple'."

It did surprise me that he had an apple in his pocket for no apparent reason. But before I could comply with his request, the sound of an alarm made me jump.

He didn't seem to notice that I hadn't said anything. "Okay, you know what? That's close enough. Er, just hang tight!" He ran back into the wardrobe, tossing the apple over his shoulder toward me, which I caught, and slammed the door shut behind him.

The loudspeaker promptly announced "All reactor core safeguards are now nonfunctional; please prepare for reactor core meltdown."

The room started to tilt, and the back wall sheared apart, revealing that the room was moving upward through a large open space held up only by steel framework.

As the room continued upward, banging into the support structure, I could hear Wheatley talking from behind the closet doors.

"Okay, listen! I wasn't going to tell you this, but... I'm in pretty hot water here!" The room struck a post and things started falling out. "How are you doing back there? Are you still holding on?" There was a notable grunt from behind the doors. "The reserve power ran out, and so, of course, the whole Relaxation Center stops waking up the bloody test subjects."

We kept moving higher and higher, striking the wall ahead of us repeatedly. "Hold on; this is a bit tricky." There was another grunt. "And of course, nobody tells me anything. No, why should they tell me anything?" The rocking room hit the stack again. "Why should I be kept informed? You know? About the life functions of the 10,000 bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of?"

The wall collapsed, and the room slowed down before lunging forward. "¡Ay! That's close. Can you see? Am I going to make it through? Have I got enough space?" I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't answer him. "Er, I-I just gotta get through here." The room hit a room and sent it falling away. "Oof! I, er, just gotta concentrate."

We were climbing again, and then moving forward. "And whose fault do you think it's gonna be when the management comes down here and finds 10,000 flipping vegetables?" We hit a set of girders, and the room's structure started to peel. "Argh! See, now I hit that one. I hit that one." The room flew violently to the left, knocking away another room. "Okay, listen, we should get our stories straight, alright? If anyone asks,... and, erm, no one's gonna ask; don't worry,... but, erm, if anyone asks, tell them as far as you know, the last time you checked, everyone looked... pretty much alive, alright? Not dead."

We turned to the right, and I could see an approaching wall with a painted sign: "Docking Station 001-04; 500 feet below". Wheatley was still talking at that point. "Okay, almost there. On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks. There's a piece of equipment in there that we're gonna need to get out of here. Er,... I think this is a docking station. Get ready!"

The room lurched forward and slammed into the wall, creating a dent. "Good news: that is not a docking station. So there's one mystery solved." The room backed away. "Erm, I'm going to attempt a manual override on this wall; it could get a bit technical. Hold on."

It flew into the wall again, crumbling it and the room further, then flew backward faster and further than before. "Almost there! Remember: you're looking for a gun that makes holes. Not bullet holes, but... don't worry; you'll figure it out." I knew what he was talking about. "Seriously do hold on this time."

As the room flew forward, I stuck the apple in my mouth and grabbed the wardrobe door's handles. The room hit the wall, sending dust and debris everywhere. I was thrown forward, and the wardrobe doors came away in my hands, covering my body as it sprawled across the mattress and shielding it from falling rubble.

I kicked the doors away to see Wheatley leaving the wardrobe in the settling dust. "Whew! There we go." He brushed the dust off his coat, and shook the debris out of his hair. He adjusted his glasses as I took the apple from my mouth and chewed the bite I had taken from it. "Now, I'll be honest; you are... probably... in no fit state to run this particular type of cognitive gauntlet. But, erm,... at least you're a good jumper, so... you got the... got the jumping on your side." He waved me through the hole in the wall. "Erm, just do your best, and... I'll meet you up ahead."

I took another bite from the apple and jumped off the bed through the gaping hole in the wall.

"That's the spirit! Good luck!"


	41. Chapter D1b

**Chell's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Two

* * *

I walked through the rubble-strewn area, looking around at the moss-covered rocks and algae-infested water streaks forming dendrites in the concrete. As I searched for an exit, the ground below me suddenly collapsed.

I fell forward and expected to fall flat on my face; but instead, I landed on my feet. I recognized the room I was in as a Relaxation Vault, though it was now in deep disrepair.

The announcer came on again. "Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties due to circumstances of potentially apocalyptic significance beyond our control; however, thanks to Emergency Testing Protocols, testing can continue. These pre-recorded messages will provide instructional and motivational support so that science can still be done, even in the event of environmental, social, economic, or structural collapse. The portal will open and emergency testing will begin in 3... 2... 1..."

The orange portal appeared on the solid wall in front of me, and I walked through, finding myself outside the vault. I walked all the way around to the test chamber.

The test was exactly as I remembered it; a Vital Apparatus Vent, a button, and a door opened by the button. The only difference aside from the deteriorating condition of the chamber was that the cube that fell out of the Vent was only about half as big as I remembered them.

"Cube- and button-based testing remains an important tool for science, even in a dire emergency. If cube- and button-based testing caused this emergency, don't worry; the odds of this happening twice are very slim."

I put the apple in my mouth and picked up the cube. The cube still weighed the same, but wasn't as awkward to carry as before. Dropping it on the button caused the room to shake. One side of the door opened, while the other slid back and forth continuously.

Removing the apple from my mouth and chewing the bite I took from it, I went through the malfunctioning door. After going through, another door opened, revealing a translucent green film where the door was.

"Please note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it."

I walked through the grill and down the stairs to a waiting elevator in a glass tube. Even though the building was falling apart, the elevator seemed to work perfectly.

* * *

The elevator ride lasted long enough to eat all the way around the outside of the apple, which was about the size of a billiard ball. As the elevator slowed to a stop, the announcer came up.

"If you feel liquid running down your neck, relax, lie on your back, and apply immediate pressure to your temples; you are simply experiencing a rare reaction in which the Material Emancipation Grill may have emancipated the ear tubes inside your head."

I massaged my neck as I walked up the stairs, but didn't feel any liquid running down my neck. The implications of dissolved ear tubes would've been much worse than missing teeth.

I approached the ledge, and remembered how I landed on my feet in the Relaxation Vault even though I had belly-flopped through the collapsing ceiling. I hopped down and landed on my feet in Test Chamber 01.

It was similar to what I had seen the first time, but this time, the blue portals were opened with buttons instead of automatically opening and closing. In each sealed off room was a cube, a button, or the exit door.

I walked over to the cube room and pushed the button. I quickly ate away the top half of the apple before getting the cube. I was able to carry it with one arm out of the room and place it next to the orange portal.

Walking up to the button room, I opened the portal to that room before polishing away the bottom half of the apple. Then I took the cube to the button and put it down on top of it.

Leaving the room, I opened the portal to the exit and picked away the rest of the edible parts of the apple as I walked through the exit door.

"Good. Because of the technical difficulties we are currently experiencing, your test environment is unsupervised."

Rubble was piling up in the shaft above the elevator, but I knew it was my only way out.

"Before reentering a Relaxation Vault at the conclusion of testing, please take a moment to write down the results of your test. An Aperture Science Reintegration Associate will revive you for an interview when society has been rebuilt."

* * *

The elevator arrived at Test Chamber 02, and the announcer was talking again. "If the Earth is currently governed by a manner of animal king, sentient cloud, or other governing body that either refuses to or is incapable of listening to reason,... - "

The message cut off as I entered the test chamber and went down the stairs beyond the entrance. I saw Wheatley appear from behind a crumpled wall on a chair suspended from a rail.

"Hey! You made it!" Wheatley laughed.

I tossed the spent apple core to him, and he caught it, after which he pointed to the middle of the chamber.

"There should be a, erm, portal device on the podium over there." He put a hand on his forehead and looked in the distance. "I can't see it, though; maybe it fell off." He gestured toward the middle of the chamber. "Do you want to go have a quick look?"

The chamber wall that would've blocked my path to the podium had collapsed, allowing me to walk through to look for the portal gun. The gun was indeed missing from the podium, so I scoured around the base of it to see if it fell off. But as soon as I reached the podium, the floor collapsed under my feet again.

"WHOA!" My utterance was overshadowed by Wheatley's identical response.

I was falling headfirst down a deep pit and thought for sure I would break my neck in half and/or my head open. But I flipped right-side-up at the last second and landed feet first in a shallow puddle. And I was completely unhurt from the impact.

Up above, Wheatley's voice echoed down. "Hello? ... Can you see the portal gun?"

I looked around the place, but couldn't see it. I was about to search the toe-deep water for the gun, but I heard Wheatley's voice again.

"Also, are you alive? Yeah, that's important; I should've asked that first."

I was about to holler up to him, but I was interrupted before I could do so.

"Erm, do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work off the assumption that you're still alive,... and I'm just going to wait for you up ahead. I'll just... I'll wait for one hour, erm,... and then I'll come back and... assuming I can locate your dead body, I'll... I'll bury you, alright? Brilliant! Go team! See you in an hour! Hopefully if you're... if you're not, er, dead."

I looked around the room and started wading through the shallow water. I came across a set of panels with murals painted on them, which surrounded a set of panels which formed a path up to where a portal gun was sitting. As expected, when I stuck my hand under the gun's hood, it grabbed onto my wrist on its own accord.

An orange portal opened itself near a catwalk, and testing the portal gun I had just picked up confirmed that it could only shoot blue portals. I aimed the portal gun at a mural of me standing in front of GLaDOS giving me a piece of cake. Whoever drew it must have been here for a long time to be able to draw that.

I pulled the trigger and a blue portal blanketed the painting. Walking through, I found myself on a ledge leading up to the remains of an office. The furniture was in disrepair, and plants had sprouted in the nooks and crannies of the formerly white walls. I searched around the place until I found myself in Test Chamber 03.

There was another announcement. "Some emergency testing may require prolonged interaction with lethal military androids. Rest assured that all lethal military androids have been taught to read and provided with one copy of the Laws of Robotics to share."

The test was as straightforward as when I had gone through it the first time. Portal at the entrance, walk through, portal at the exit, and walk through again.

"Good. If you feel that a lethal military android has not respected your rights as detailed in the Laws of Robotics, please note it on your self-reporting form. A future Aperture Science Entitlement Associate will initiate the appropriate grievance-filing paperwork."

The announcement didn't seem relevant, so I didn't pay attention to it. The elevator pushed its way up through a stack of rubble and opened its doors, allowing me to enter the elevator. The doors closed behind me, and I went on to the next test.


	42. Chapter D1c

**Chell's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Three

* * *

The elevator stopped, and I proceeded to Test Chamber 04. Again, it was the same as before, except that it was falling apart.

"This next test is very dangerous. To help you remain tranquil in the face of almost certain death, smooth jazz will be deployed in 3... 2... 1..."

The sound of a saxophone resonated throughout the chamber as I portaled a cube from the pit below and carried it to the button that opened the door. As soon as the button was depressed, the music started to wind down, and then cut out as I made my way through the hall to Chamber 05.

Once I reached Chamber 05, another announcement came on. "At the time of this recording, federal disclosure policies require us to inform you that this next test is probably lethal, and to redirect you to a safer test environment; we will attempt to comply with these now nonexistent agencies by playing some more smooth jazz."

There was no sound following that message except for a faint hum emanating from the pre-generated portal in the test chamber. As was the case the last time I was here, there were two buttons that operated the exit door.

Remembering how I solved the test last time, I got the first cube out of the pit and portaled myself to where it landed. I pushed the cube off the platform with my foot before portaling the other cube from the other platform and repeating suit.

Once both cubes were in the appropriate places, the announcement system came on again. "Great work. Because this message is pre-recorded, any observations related to your performance are speculation on our part; please disregard any undeserved compliments."

I walked through the door, which closed behind me, and shot a portal at my feet. I fell through as I had done previously. This time, I broke the window when I landed on it; the glass held somewhat together in its frame, but the frame itself buckled on three of its four edges.

I climbed into the hall, which was barricaded with fallen structural components. Two fallen wall panels allowed me to get around the barricade, and through the detour was a staircase leading to a den like the ones I had seen before and after my first escape attempt.

Heading back down the stairs, I went down to the waiting elevator to the next test chamber.

* * *

I wasn't sure whether or not to be surprised when I got off the elevator and found myself in Test Chamber 08. What did surprise me was that the test chamber itself seemed to have had a renovated design.

"If the Enrichment Center is currently being bombarded with fireballs, meteorites, or other objects from space, please avoid unsheltered testing areas wherever a lack of shelter from space debris does not appear to be a deliberate part of the test."

Decaying ceiling panels blocked my path, but the uncovered floor appeared portalable. I opened a portal beneath me and then suddenly fell out of a wall. I was automatically positioned to stand upright before landing on the floor below.

Looking around, I could see two Vital Apparatus Vents across a pit filled with toxic liquid. There was a button on the floor, and stepping on it raised a staircase to a platform which housed the sealed exit door.

Stepping off the button on the floor, I pushed a pedestal button overlooking the pit. A cube fell onto the level white surface in the corner of the chamber, and I portaled it to where I was. I carried it to the button and set it down.

At the top of the staircase, I found another floor button and two pedestal buttons. The floor button opened the exit door, while one pedestal button dropped a cube from the other Vital Apparatus Vent. This time, the portal surface wasn't level, and it was further below the vent than in the previous case.

Pushing the other button raised a platform above the pit of liquid for about two seconds. I put a portal under the second Vent and pushed the drop button. The cube fell through, flew across the floor, and landed in the liquid. Repeating the process, I pushed the button to extend the panel and save the cube. The cube was within reach, and I brought it up to the button to open the door.

"Well done! The Enrichment Center reminds you that although circumstances may appear bleak, you are not alone; all Aperture Science Personality Constructs will remain functional in apocalyptic, low-power environments of as few as 1.1 volts."

Little could I have realized the importance of that information.

* * *

When the elevator reached the next test, I could see that I had again skipped ahead; now I was at Test Chamber 10.

The announcement gave me hope that the chamber wasn't completely changed. "This next test applies the principles of momentum to movement through portals. If the laws of physics no longer apply in the future, God help you."

I rolled my eyes as I put a portal on the wall at the end of the "hallway". Stepping through, I fell out of a portal high up on a wall overlooking a large "well" with a white floor. It confused me as to why I had yet to land on anything but my feet, so I decided to ask Wheatley when we met up again.

Portaling the floor of the well, I jumped in and soon found myself at the sealed exit. It was there that I noticed a window on the floor with a porthole in it. Within, I saw a cube which I recognized was necessary to open the door. I got it out with the portal gun, went over to where it fell, and flung myself back to the exit with the cube in tow.

Putting the cube on the button, I left as another announcement came on. "If you are a non-employee who has discovered this facility amid the ruins of civilization, welcome. And remember: testing is the future, and the future starts with you!"

The enthusiastic tone contrasted sharply with my reaction to the next part of the test. It had to be twice as big as the last part, and I had no idea what to do. Ahead of me was another well, with an orange portal generated at the base.

I looked around to see the equipment in the chamber; a button to open the exit on the right, and a cube on a platform to the left. The only portalable surfaces were on the wall behind me, which housed the chamber's entrance door. One of those panels was tilted upward, drawing my instincts to open a portal there.

After doing so, I jumped into the well and flew over to where the cube was. I repositioned the blue portal to direct me to the platform and dropped the cube into the well before following after it.

Once I was on the platform, I was able to reach the button and get the cube on it. The exit door opened and panels deployed underneath, facilitating access to the door. I returned to the well and jumped in after moving the portal slightly as a precaution.

As I landed, I somersaulted from the momentum through the door and down the stairs, finally slamming to a stop at the elevator door. The elevator door open a second later, and an announcement was made as junk piled on top of the elevator.

"Good work getting this far, future starter! That said, if you are simple-minded, old, or irradiated in such a way that the future should not start with you, please return to your primitive tribe, and send back someone better qualified for testing."

I would most certainly do that if I could.

I stood up and cracked my back before stepping into the elevator. There was one thing that certainly didn't change about Test Chamber 10, and that was that when I reached the exit, I was banged up like a rock in the washing machine.


	43. Chapter D1d

**Chell's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Four

* * *

The elevator slowed to a stop at the entrance to the next test, and another announcement came on.

"To ensure that sufficient power remains for Core Testing Protocols, all safety devices have been disabled. The Enrichment Center respects your right to have questions or concerns about this policy."

I left the elevator and soon found myself at the entrance to Test Chamber 11. Again, I was in a sealed room overlooking the chamber, but it was in great disrepair. All the liquid had drained away, and the platform with the orange portal gun had crumbled. The windows surrounding me were cracked, but not broken, so I had to hope that an orange portal was open somewhere in the chamber.

Just as I was about to shoot a nearby wall, I heard Wheatley's voice in the distance. "Hey! ¡Oyé! Over here!"

I turned around and saw Wheatley in a suspended chair where the heavy door had been (the door was either gone or stuck open) and holding the orange portal gun. Putting his free hand down from waving to me, he fired a portal at the wall under the room I was in. I fired a blue portal on the wall next to me.

As soon as I walked through, Wheatley grew ecstatic. "Oh brilliant! You did find a portal gun!" He gave a light laugh. "Oh,... you know, it - it just goes to show: people with brain damage are the real heroes in the end. Aren't they? At the end of the day? Brave!"

I was mildly confused about the part with brain damage, but Wheatley didn't give me any time to ponder it.

"Pop a portal on the wall behind me there, and I'll meet you on the other side of the room." He moved his chair out of the way so I could get a clear shot. I fired, and went back into the orange portal.

* * *

The platform in the back room had crumbled, so I ended up falling further than I would have otherwise. Wheatley was all the way at the other side of the room in a chair suspended from the ceiling, and as I walked up to him, he started talking again.

"Okay, listen. Let me, erm,... lay something on you here; it's pretty heavy." He took a hard swallow. "They told me... never, never, ever... to disengage myself from the Management Rail,... or I could die."

I could see in his eyes that he was trying to convince himself that that wasn't true.

"But... we're out of options here, so, erm,... get ready to catch me,... alright? On the off chance that I'm not dead... erm, the moment... I jump off this thing."

I took my portal gun off my hand and set it next to the window. Wheatley tossed his portal gun to me, and I caught it, placing it next to the other one. He grabbed his armrests and seemed to pull himself from the back of the chair.

"On three. Ready?" I nodded, holding out my hands and bracing myself for his landing. "One... two..."

"THREE!" He lunged forward but didn't let go of the bars holding his seat to the rail in the ceiling. "That's high! That-That-That's too high! Isn't it? Really that?" He settled back into his seat. "Okay, going on three gives you too much time to think about it."

He took a few breaths to calm himself. "Let's, er, go on one this time. You ready?"

I opened my mouth to object, but it was too late. "ONE! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me!"

Taken off guard, I ran backwards trying to catch him, and he belly flopped on top of me.

"Auph!" The impact felt like being crushed by a toboggan full of people with stainless steel plating on the base. "Ow..." My face was stifled in the underside of Wheatley's chin, so my moan was muffled.

I pushed Wheatley off of me and struggled to my feet. As I did so, I felt around my chest to see if any ribs were broken. There weren't any.

Wheatley slowly sat up and checked himself. "I... am not dead! I'm not dead! Hahaha!"

I grabbed his hand (which felt strangely metallic) and helped him to his feet. "Ah, brilliant. Thank you. Great."

He leaned on the wall next to him, and a seat-shaped port appeared from behind. "Plug me into this seat on the wall over here, and I'll show you something. You'll be impressed by it."

I was confused for a moment, but then I remembered the robots that were installed on GLaDOS. They had oversized plugs on their back that anchored them to the chassis. Checking Wheatley's back confirmed that he was also a robot.

I put him on the seat and carefully plugged him into the port in the seat.

"Erm..." he situated himself after he was plugged in, "y-yeah, I can't do it with you watching. Seriously, I-I-I'm not joking; could you just... turn around for a second?"

I went over to the window to pick up the portal guns. Once I had them in my possession, I heard Wheatley again. "Alright. You can turn around now."

I walked back up to him in time to see a wall panel open up under where the Pellet Launcher used to be. "BAM! Secret panel! That I opened. While your back was turned." He pulled himself out of the seat, which receded back into the wall, and then gave me a large screw lid about the size of a Frisbee. "Pack me up and let's get out of here."

I traded the portal guns for the lid with him. As I put the lid over the plug cavity and screwed it in, Wheatley stacked the portal guns together, the operational end of one going into the controlled end of the other, creating a brilliant glow. Once the lid was tight, he gave me one portal gun, which I realized was a dual-portal gun.

"And off we go." Wheatley waved for me to go through the opened panel onto the catwalk beyond.

As we stepped through, Wheatley went on prattling. "Look at this! No rail to tell us where to go! Oh, this is brilliant; we can go wherever we want! Wait, just... hold on, where are we going? Seriously?" He grabbed my shoulder. "Hang on; let me just, er, get my bearings. Erm..." he looked around and caught sight of a rail overhead, "yeah, just... follow the rail, actually."

I continued down the catwalk, and we soon came across a tube filled with rubble. One of the gun-carrying robot girls was trapped in the pipe and couldn't get out from under the rubble.

"Hello?" She started tapping on the glass.

Wheatley moaned. "Oh no..."

"Hello?"

He put on a happy ruse. "Yes, hello! No, we're not stopping!"

"Excuse me?"

Wheatley leaned to my ear. "Don't make eye contact, whatever you do."

"Hello?"

"Nope, thanks! We're good! Appreciate it!"

"Thanks anyway."

"Keep moving, keep moving." Wheatley pushed me across the catwalk away from the puppy-eyed robot.

"Hello?"

Wheatley dragged me to a door.

"Hello?"

The voice faded as we entered.

"I'm different..."

The door closed behind us, and an identical door was in front of us. Wheatley let off a whoosh of air before busying himself with a keypad near the other door.

* * *

The password was entered into the door mainframe, and the door started to wind open.

As the door hissed open, Wheatley started to twiddle his thumbs. "Er, probably ought to bring you up to speed on something right now. ... Erm, in order to escape, we're gonna have to go... through _Her_ chamber," his eyes bugged at the utterance of the pronoun, "and, erm,... She will probably kill us if-if She's, erm, awake."

I knew very well who Wheatley was talking about.

We walked over past a boarded up hallway over to the familiar entrance to the hall leading to the chamber.

"If you want to just call it quits," he showed an observation annex viewing the chamber (or what was left of it), "we can just sit here... forever. So, that's an option. Option A: sit here and do nothing. Option B: go through there, and if She's alive, She'll almost certainly kill us. So,... if you've got any reservations whatsoever about this plan, now would be a tremendous time to voice them."

I had already started walking down the crumbling tunnel to the heavy door to the chamber. It hissed open as Wheatley ran up to me.

"Okay, I'm gonna lay my cards on the table: I don't want to do it. I don't want to go in there."

The door had opened enough for me to duck under, with Wheatley scrambling under trying to stop me.

"NO! DON'T GO IN THERE! DON'T!"


	44. Chapter D1e

**Chell's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Five

* * *

Wheatley grabbed my shoulders desperately, but then instantly released. "Oh, She's off! She's off. Panic over; She's off. All fine! On we go."

I let off a light laugh as I strolled through the ruined chamber over to where GLaDOS's lifeless parts lay strewn about in puddles of rusty water.

"There She is," Wheatley whispered to me. "What a nasty piece of work She was, honestly, like a proper maniac." I could hear him breathing uneasily as he spoke. "Do you know who ended up purging Her? Do you know who ended up taking Her down in the end?" He didn't give me a chance to answer. "You're not gonna believe this. A human!"

I was taken aback by what he said.

"I know! I know; I wouldn't have believed it, either. Apparently, this human escaped and, erm,... nobody's seen him since."

I wanted to tell him that it was me who did that, but he continued talking.

"Then there was a sorta long chunk of time where, erm,... absolutely nothing happened,... and then there's us escaping now. So yeah, that's,er, that's pretty much the whole story; you're up to speed. Don't touch anything."

We had reached the other side of the chamber and were walking around an incinerator hatch at that point. Wheatley took the lead to a flight of stairs.

"Okay, down these stairs." He waved for me to head down.

At the bottom, the catwalk had collapsed, leaving a long drop to the ground.

"JUMP! Wait, actually - " he stopped right in my path, "look at that; that's, erm,... that's quite a distance, isn't it?"

He shimmied behind me and climbed onto my shoulders. "Okay, you know what? Er, go ahead and jump. You've got... You've got braces on your legs, so... you're all set." I started to lean forward for the jump. "Er, but no... braces on your arms, though; so... you're going to have to rely on the old human strength to keep a grip on the Device, and... in addition, me. So, do - do really... do really keep a grip on me."

I made another lean for the jump. "Also, a note: erm, no braces on your spine, either. So,... So, don't land on that." Another lean forward. "Or your head, no braces there; that - that could split like a melon, erm,... from this height." He gave a nervous laugh. "So,... er, do definitely focus on landing with your legs."

I took a few steps back for a running start, but as I took my first step, he started talking again. "Er, quick question: have you been working out? Because (I'll be honest) there's no evidence of it, you know? I mean, I'm not - I'm not, like, you know, like, just a plastic cup; er, we will be landing with some force, so, er, a bit of... bit of grip. Just use the grip, classic grip."

I sighed and made another go at the running start, but again was interrupted. "Right. Let's go! Jump! What's the worst that can happen? Oh. Oh, I just thought about the worst thing that can happen. Oh! Oh, I just thought of something even worse! Er, better plan, new plan: no imagining of any... any potential outcomes whatsoever, okay? Okay, just jump! Just jump into the... into the abyss, and... let's see what happens."

I turned around and saw Wheatley squeezing his eyes shut. He cautiously opened one. "Oh, I'm still there! I'm still there!"

I smacked him with my free hand (it did sting a bit, but not much) and signaled for him to zip it.

Returning my attention to the jump, I ran for the edge and jumped in a front flip.

Wheatley screamed as we fell, and we landed with a loud, metallic crunch. "Ah, still held! I'm still being held!" He hopped down off my shoulders. "That's a great job; you applied the grip, and we're all fine. That's tremendous!"

He continued leading the way through the hall to the catwalk.

As we started to traverse, Wheatley screamed and stopped. "Agh! Sorry, I... I just looked down; I - I do not recommend it." We walked about five more steps. "Agh! I just did it again!"

I started pushing him forward until we reached the end of the catwalk. There, he threw open the door on the left. "This..." he showed off the inside, "...is the main breaker room." He took the first step toward the door. "Let's go in."

We both stepped inside, and I shut the door behind me. It was dark except for Wheatley's glowing eyes, the glowing light on his chest, cracks of light coming in from the ceiling, and the glowing switches lining the wall.

"Look for a switch that says 'escape pod', alright?"

I couldn't read any of the labels, and Wheatley's banter didn't help me in finding the right switch.

"Don't touch anything else; we're not interested in anything else. Don't touch anything else; don't - don't even look at anything else. Just - well, obviously, you're gonna have to look at everything else... to - to - to find 'escape pod', but, erm, as soon as you've looked at something that doesn't say 'escape pod', look at something else. Look at the next thing, alright? So, don't touch anything else or look at - well, you can look at other things, but don't - do you understand?"

I was thrown through a loop with the order not to look at anything else, so I was lost for words. (As if I wasn't already.)

He started looking around. "Can you see it anywhere? I can't see it anywhere. Er, tell you what. Plug me in, and I'll turn the lights on."

The lack of light forced me to do everything by touch. I removed the lid from Wheatley's back, and he sat down on a seat in the middle of the floor.

Lights shot up from the floor, and he held his hands above his head. "Let there be light!" He held the pose with an awkward look on his face. "That's, er,... God; I was quoting God." He put his hands down and put a hand on the floor next to him.

It just so happened that the spot he was leaning on was another button: the "emergency startup" button.

Suddenly, the floor rotated to the right.

"Whoa, look at that! It's turning!" I was thrown off balance and fell over. "Ominous! But probably fine, you know? As long as it doesn't start, you know, moving up. Now, 'escape pod', 'escape pod',..."

As I got up to my feet, the platform started to rise. "It is moving up." He realized the enormity of the situation when the rising platform started flipping all the switches it went by. "Okay, don't worry, I got it! I got it! This - This should slow it down." He pushed the button repeatedly to slow the platform. It paused as the ceiling opened, and then started shooting up faster. "No, it makes it go faster." The platform reached the top of the shaft back in GLaDOS's chamber. "Uh-oh..."

The PA system buzzed on. "Power-up initiated."

I turned to run back to the entrance, but a concrete wall barricaded my progress. I turned around to watch as GLaDOS slowly pulled Herself together while Wheatley tried to shut Her back down.

"Okay, don't panic! Alright, stop panicking; I can - I can still stop this. Erm,... er, oh! There's a - There's a password! It's fine, I'll just - I'll just hack it; not a problem."

It wasn't reassuring to hear him try to enter every single six-letter combination one by one, even considering that he skipped AAAAAB.

"Power-up complete."

"Okay, okay!" Wheatley pulled himself from the seat and scrambled to his feet. "New plan: just act natural. Act natural; we've done nothing wrong." He gave a large fake smile and fake happy tone filled with fear as GLaDOS snapped to full attention. "HELLO!"

GLaDOS's eyes narrowed as they bored holed into us. "Oh,... it's you!"

Wheatley dropped his pretense and turned to me in scared confusion. "You know Her?"

GLaDOS and I both nodded as Her lips stretched into a smile. "It's been a long time. How have you been?"

I gently flicked my free hand into a thumbs-up as Wheatley whispered in my ear. "I think She likes you."

Before I could interject, She continued speaking. "I've been really busy being dead. You know? ... After you MURDERED ME?"

Wheatley nearly choked on his shock. "You did what?!"

She loomed down upon us and grabbed hold of me with one hand, shaking the portal gun from my grasp.

"Oh no! No no no no no!" Wheatley tried to run back to the other end of the chamber, but GLaDOS grabbed him by the seat of his pants. "OH NO NO NO! NO! NO!"

She bounced him once to silence him before turning Her attention to me. "Okay, look. We've both said a lot of things that you're going to regret."

She tossed Wheatley in the air before grabbing him by the torso. "But I think we can put our differences behind us."

She tossed him over Her shoulder toward the chamber entrance. "For science. You monster."

She then carried me away from the entrance. "I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test."

I realized Her intentions when She held me above the opening incinerator hatch. "I love it, too. There's just one small thing we need to take care of first."

She held onto me for a split second before dropping me down the long, dark shaft.


	45. Chapter D1f

**Chell's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Six

* * *

I bounced around the walls of the slaloming shaft as I fell. Two pairs of crushing spike plates came together just before I passed through. After a harrowing, ten-second plunge, I landed hard on solid level ground.

"Here we are. The Incinerator Room. Be careful not to trip over any parts of me that didn't get completely burned when you threw them down here. The Dual-Portal Device should be around here somewhere; once you find it, we can start testing again just like old times."

There were wrecked pieces of scaffolding bridging large pits of fire surrounded by chute exit leading into the fire. Carefully walking across the wrecked scaffolding, I reached the other side of the fiery pit. I passed by a chute that dropped two cubes and a robot girl.

I managed to get into a cool area on the other side, and I saw spark being thrown up by something under a panel.

"There it is." GLaDOS's voice echoed through the space. "Hold on..."

The panels struggled to get themselves off the portal gun underneath, but they ultimately succeeded. "There."

I reached for the controlled end of the portal gun, and again it grabbed hold of my wrist.

"Good. You have a Dual-Portal Device. There should be a way back to the testing area up ahead."

The boarded-up hallway in front of me looked vaguely familiar. Once I managed to portal myself to the other side of the pile, the familiarity became clear; I was going through Test Chamber 19 backwards.

"Once testing starts, I'm required by protocol to keep interaction with you to a minimum. Luckily, we haven't started testing yet; this will be our only chance to talk."

As if I had anything to say to Her.

I portaled past another collapsed ceiling before coming to a dead end in the trench.

"Here. Let me get that for you." A panel above the wall dropped, revealing a portal friendly surface, which I used to get to the next part of the trench.

"Do you know the biggest lesson I learned from what you did? I discovered I have a sort of black box quick-save feature; in the event of a catastrophic failure, the last twenty minutes of my life are preserved for analysis. I was able... well, forced, really... to relive you killing me again and again forever."

I portaled myself to a platform where a door-raising button had been.

"You know, if you'd done that to somebody else, they might devote their existence to exacting revenge."

The window was missing, allowing a clear portal shot to the room near the entrance.

"Luckily, I'm a bigger person than that; I'm happy to put this all behind us and get back to work. After all, we've got a lot to do and only sixty more years to do it. (More or less; I don't have the actuarial tables in front of me.)"

I made my way into the hall, where ravaged panels were struggling to retract themselves.

"I'll just move that out of the way for you; this place really is a wreck."

With the path clear, I reach the elevator without further hindrance.

"But the important thing is you're back. With me. And now I'm on to all your little tricks, so there's nothing to stop us from testing for the rest of your life. After that, who knows? I might take up a hobby. Reanimating the dead, maybe?"

My only response was to rest my head on the window divider at the back of the rising elevator.


End file.
